Protecting ecosystems

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda contains a range of commitments to protect ecosystems, many of which are also included in the Sustainable Development Goals and their Means of Implementation targets.

Specifically, the Addis Agenda:

• Commits to coherent policy, financing, trade and technology frameworks to protect, manage and restore our ecosystems, including marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and to promote their sustainable use, build resilience, reduce pollution and combat climate change, desertification and land degradation
• Welcomes implementation of the global Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets; commits to mobilize resources, support country efforts to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems
• Encourages the mobilization of financial resources from all sources at all levels to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and ecosystems, including promoting sustainable forest management
• Stresses importance of the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and the seas, recognizes that international law, as reflected in UNCLOS, provides the legal framework for the conservation and the sustainable use of the oceans and their resources and commits to protect/restore oceans and ecosystems, and maintain their biodiversity
• Commits to support the most vulnerable in addressing and adapting to climate change
• Commits to provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets, consistent with sustainable management practices as well as initiatives that add value to outputs from small-scale fishers
• Will increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology adopted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries
• Commits to promote corporate sustainability

Note

See monitoring under the following Action Area clusters:

• Domestic Public Resources (fossil fuel subsidies, extractives and resources sector)
• Domestic and international private business and finance (private sector efforts and initiatives on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors)
• International development cooperation (climate finance, disaster risk and environmental resilience)
• International trade as an engine for development (agriculture and fisheries, illegal wildlife trade/fishing/logging/mining)

Relevant SDG indicator 

• 14.2.1 Proportion of national exclusive economic zones managed using ecosystem-based approaches
• 14.4.1 Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels
• 14.6.1 Progress by countries in the degree of implementation of international instruments aiming to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
• 14.a.1 Proportion of total research budget allocated to research in the field of marine technology
• 14.b.1 Progress by countries in the degree of application of a legal/regulatory/policy/institutional framework which recognizes and protects access rights for small-scale fisheries
• 14.c.1 Number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources
• 15.1.2 Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas, by ecosystem type
• 15.3.1 Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area
• 15.a.1 Official development assistance and public expenditure on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems
• 15.b.1 Official development assistance and public expenditure on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems

Additional material

• IATF Issue Brief: Disaster Risk and Environmental Resilience (WBG and GFDRR, 2016)
• IATF Issue Brief: Protecting Ecosystems (WBG, 2016)