NEGOTIATING WITH NATURE: SA heads to COP17 with a practical plan to halt biodiversity loss

With 2030 less than four years away, the sustainability target year marks the deadline for South Africa and other countries to fulfil 23 global targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

The targets are outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark international agreement adopted in 2022 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15).

The draft Global Report on Collective Progress in the Implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework released in July has already painted a dire picture of the progress made towards implementing the GBF.

The draft report found that signatory countries are wildly off track to meet the 2030 deadline, with significant progress being made in only one of the 23 targets that were agreed on four years ago.

The UN report ultimately concluded that the global goal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 would not be achieved unless action by countries “accelerated rapidly”.

With the next instalment of the biodiversity COP starting on Monday, 19 October, and in light of the not-so-rosy picture painted by the progress report, South Africa said it was heading to COP17 with the goal of practical implementation in mind, not just reporting on progress.

“COP17 cannot be another conference that diagnoses the biodiversity crisis without equipping countries to act,” Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Narend Singh said at a department briefing on Monday, 12 October, on the negotiating position South Africa would take at the biodiversity talks.

Singh will lead the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE’s) COP17 negotiating team.

He said that for COP17 to be productive, participating countries would have to agree on how to close the gap between global commitments and implementation.

“South Africa will call for a fair implementation package that matches global ambition with finance, technology and capacity, while ensuring that the benefits derived from our genetic resources are shared equitably,” Singh said.

State of SA biodiversity

Even though South Africa is megadiverse, being among the top 10 countries for species richness, biodiversity loss remains a top concern for the nation.

During the briefing, the DFFE made a presentation on the country’s state of biodiversity, based on the South African National Biodiversity Institute’s (Sanbi’s) latest assessment.

According to the 2025 report, 986 ecosystem types assessed were under threat.

The report found that:

• More than half of all assessed species are of concern, with the most fragile being freshwater and cartilaginous species.

• Estuaries, rivers and wetlands are the most threatened and least protected, a critical concern for a water-scarce country.

• Both ecosystem (terrestrial biomes) and species (species groups) Red List Indexes show declining trends, indicating increasing threat levels.

• Climate change, unsustainable land use, pollution and invasive alien species were identified as major impacts.

Despite these challenges, Singh said that the DFFE would be finalising the revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) for 2026 to 2035 to help guide the country in effectively implementing the targets set in the Global Biodiversity Framework.

South Africa has developed its NBSAP by grouping the Kunming-Montreal targets into 12 thematic areas. This integrated, systems-based approach recognises the interconnectedness of biodiversity issues and aims for maximum benefits and impacts. However, to fully operationalise the NBSAP, Singh said South Africa and many other developing nations required support from the convention, which they would call for at COP.

What is SA negotiating for

Singh emphasised that financial commitments had to translate into resources that developing countries could actually access and use, as “finance announced on paper is not the same as finance available for implementation”.

The GBF’s resource mobilisation target calls for at least $200-billion (R3.3-billion) a year for biodiversity from all sources by 2030. It also sets targets for international biodiversity finance to developing countries of at least $20-billion a year by 2025 and $30-billion a year by 2030.

As such, South Africa will advocate for biodiversity finance that is adequate, predictable, accessible and non-debt-creating, in line with developed countries’ obligations under Article 20 of the convention.

“Developing countries, we believe, should not be pushed further into debt to protect biodiversity that provides benefits well beyond their borders,” Singh said.

Responding to questions from Daily Maverick about challenges in implementing the GBF’s targets, the DFFE said that, as a megadiverse nation, SA noted that the goals and targets of the GBF were global in nature and, as such, each party contributed to attaining them in accordance with national circumstances, priorities and capabilities.

The department added that all the types of means of implementation, finance, capacity-building, technical and scientific cooperation, and technology transfer, had increased since the adoption of the GBF. However, they had not kept pace with the requirements to meet the targets.

“For SA, ambition cannot be considered in isolation from means of implementation. Ambition must be accompanied by commensurate, predictable, accessible and timely support for developing countries, including financial resources, capacity-building and development, technology transfer, technical and scientific cooperation and knowledge-sharing,” the department said.

South Africa’s message is straightforward: a global biodiversity deal cannot be considered realistic if the countries holding much of the world’s biodiversity lack the support to implement it. DM