This new brief offers key recommendations for Parties and other actors, at the twenty-seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-27) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, to further embed a human rights-based approach in the implementation and monitoring of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), and in biodiversity governance more broadly.
First published on 10/21/2025, and last updated on 10/22/2025
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Resumen completo en español disponible aquí (archivo PDF)
The adoption of KMGBF in 2022 was a historic step in recognizing the vital link between human rights and biodiversity. Parties agreed that the “implementation of the Framework should follow a human rights-based approach, respecting, protecting, promoting and fulfilling human rights” (KMGBF, Section C).
Shifting from commitment to practice, SBSTTA-27 and the historic first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Article 8(j) and Other Provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity Related to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (SB8j-1) are decisive moments to ensure guidance and decisions across agenda items uphold human rights at their core.
Only by keeping human rights at its core, the KMGBF can deliver the transformative change urgently needed to reverse biodiversity loss and safeguard the rights of those who most depend on and care for it.
This brief, prepared by members of the Human Rights and Biodiversity Working Group, offers key recommendations for Parties and other actors, across key agenda items of the SBSTTA-27 meeting (Panama, October 2025) to further embed a human rights-based approach in the implementation and monitoring of the KMGBF, and in biodiversity governance more broadly.
List of events related to human rights and biodiversity, co-convened by our working group and its members:
During SBSTTA-27: Side event: Aligning Voices: Multi-Actor Pathways for Just and Equitable Policy Coherence across the Rio Conventions, Thursday 2025.10.23 at 18:15.
During SB8j-1: Side event: Advancing Human Rights-Based Approaches in Target 3 Implementation, Wednesday 2025.10.29 at 18:15.
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact: humanrightsbiodiversity [at] gmail [dot] com
The Human Rights and Biodiversity Working Group (HR&BD WG) consists of diverse organizations and individuals working at the intersection of biodiversity and human rights, aiming to promote human rights in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). The group was initiated by the co-conveners of the thematic workshop on human rights in the post-2020 GBF in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February 2020. Since the KMGBF was adopted, the group continues to support the inclusion of the Human Rights-Based Approach in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of the KMGBF.
