Why the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy?

Efforts to conserve biodiversity comprise a patchwork of international goals, national-level plans, and local interventions that, overall, are failing.

The current global strategic framework for nature conservation (the Aichi Targets (CBD 2010)) suffered from several difficulties:

Wording of targets made it difficult to translate global goals into tangible conservation actions
It was unclear how National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), scaled-up to global outcomes
It was unclear how to incorporate contributions of local and non-State actors, such as individuals and businesses

A new approach is required to drive transformative change for the post-2020 framework, which can:

Act as a universal framework for action on biodiversity, linking different elements (e.g. outcomes, actions and enabling conditions) and scales towards aspirational and measurable global targets
Support the strengthening of National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plans (NBSAPs), as a key instrument for implementing the post-2020 framework, whilst also fostering strong ownership amongst stakeholders beyond the biodiversity community
Focus on creating tangible action, with an effective monitoring and review process to improve transparency and accountability
Mainstream biodiversity – across all sectors and in to every stage of policy development, planning and project cycles – regardless whether international organizations, businesses or governments lead the process.

The Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy can meet these needs, because it:

Focuses on identifying actions
Is flexible, allowing for differentiated pathways towards common goals
Aids transparency and monitoring
Is founded on a strong evidence-based and a wealth of practical experience
Supports aspirational goals for nature