Biodiversity is declining, and action to halt and reverse the loss is needed at all levels of society. All Barents countries are Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Negotiations are currently taking place on an universal global biodiversity framework, to guide actions worldwide through 2030. Aside from safeguarding and sustainably using nature and its essential services for people and the planet, the framework aims to ensure that the benefits from biodiversity are shared fairly and equitable, and the necessary resources and tools are mobilized to reach the Convention’s 2050 Vision – to live in harmony with nature. To complement the actions made by Governments, the CBD is mobilizing and collecting voluntary commitments from all stakeholders. Finland, as the chair of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council’s (BEAC) Working Group on Environment has launched a Biodiversity Initiative to encourage all stakeholders from the Barents Region to show their support to the objectives of the Convention and submit their biodiversity-related activities as voluntary commitments. The Biodiversity Initiative includes a special focus on freshwater ecosystems.

The webinar will be arranged on 8 November 2021.
15:00-17:00 Finnish time (14:00-16:00 Swedish & Norwegian time, 16:00-18:00 Moscow time)

Objective of the webinar

To enhance stakeholder engagement, the Finnish Chairmanship of the BEAC Working Group on Environment and the CBD Secretariat are organizing a webinar on the role of voluntary commitments to raise attention and mobilize regional and local stakeholder activities in support of the global on biodiversity through the Sharm El Sheikh to Kunming Action Agenda for Nature and People.

The two hour webinar will showcase commitments and actions that have taken part in the Barents Biodiversity Initiative. The webinar will also serve as a technical training for stakeholders on the use of the CBD Action Agenda portal, where voluntary commitments are displayed. The benefits of making voluntary commitments under the CBD will also be addressed.

Modalities

All interested stakeholders from the Barents Region are welcome to join the webinar. We encourage discussion on collective and individual commitments to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity, and in particular with a view towards freshwater related commitments and actions in the Barents Region.

The webinar will be held online using Interactio platform via web browser. The webinar will be held in in English, with simultaneous interpretation to Russian.

Please register using this form by 29 October 2021.

Programme

  1. Opening remarks
    Jari Vilén, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Ambassador, BEAC Committee of Senior Officials
  2. Short introduction to CBD and Voluntary Commitments by stakeholders
    Catalina Santamaria, CBD Secretariat
  3. Barents cooperation and the Biodiversity Initiative
    Henna Haapala, Ministry of the Environment of Finland, BEAC WGE Chair
  4. Cases: Commitments from the Barents region
  5. Questions & Answers
  6. Technical training: submission and profiling of voluntary commitments and navigating data on the Action Agenda
    Ulrika Nilsson, CBD Secretariat

More information about the Barents Biodiversity Initiative