Biodiversity: International Affairs
Biodiversity is essential for human life. Our ecosystems provide the source for our food, regulate our climate and provide clean air and water, which is why it is vital they remain diverse and healthy. Yet their condition has significantly deteriorated in recent decades, both globally and in Switzerland. To preserve biodiversity – and hence our ecosystems – action is needed at local, regional and global level.
Switzerland is actively involved in international efforts to conserve biodiversity. It is committed to the successful implementation of biodiversity-related agreements at global and regional level and supports international initiatives for the promotion, sustainable use and monitoring of biodiversity.
The efforts of international biodiversity-related conventions and processes are currently focused on implementing the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its global biodiversity targets by 2030. The global framework was adopted in December 2022 at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
International Agreements
As a signatory state to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and numerous other biodiversity-related international agreements, Switzerland is working towards effective framework conditions, measures and policies for the conservation, promotion and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Global Biodiversity
The current state of biodiversity has significantly deteriorated in recent decades, in Switzerland and around the world. The main factors responsible for the global decline in biodiversity are habitat loss for animals and plants, the excessive use of natural resources, climate change, environmental pollution, and invasive alien (non-native) species. The poor state of biodiversity is visible at all of its three levels: ecosystems, species and genes.
Switzerland's activities
Switzerland wants to continue its work in the area of biodiversity to ensure that the various biodiversity-related agreements are implemented. This involves strengthening synergies and ensuring that the implementation of these agreements, the related international instruments and the financing mechanism are coherent.
IPBES
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), also known as the World Biodiversity Council, is a scientific body set up in 2012 by the United Nations. IPBES’s objective is to provide decision-makers and civil society with well-founded scientific information about the state and development of biodiversity and its ecosystem services.