2021 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15)

2021 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15)


The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will host the 2020 UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, on 17-30 May 2021.

The conference will consist of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15), the 10th Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (Cartagena Protocol COP/MOP10), and the 4th Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (Nagoya Protocol COP/MOP4), originally scheduled for October 2020, will now be held 17-30 May 2021, in Kunming, China.

CBD COP15 will review the achievement and delivery of the CBD’s Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. It is also anticipated that the final decision on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework will be taken, together with decisions on related topics such as capacity building and resource mobilization.

As part of the process to develop the post-2020 framework, negotiations will be held in the context of an open-ended intersessional working group. The first working group meeting met in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27-30 August 2019. The second meeting will be held in Kunming, China, on 24-28 February 2020 and the third meeting is expected to convene on 27-31 July 2020 in Colombia.

Additionally, the Convention’s other intersessional and subsidiary bodies, including the Working Group on Article 8(j), the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) will address aspects of the post-2020 framework of relevance to their mandates.