Registration on this page is to watch the event online.  To attend in-person at the Oxford Martin School, please register at: www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/events/path-to-recovery

Dr David Cooper will highlight why urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss is important, describe progress in achieving the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework, and discuss what further steps are needed.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was agreed by all governments at COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022.  It sets out an ambitious agenda to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity and put nature on a path to recovery by 2030.  Later this year, at COP-17, the international community will take stock of progress towards the 2030 targets and 2050 goals of the KMGBF.

In this talk, Dr David Cooper will highlight why it is important to take urgent action - why biodiversity is important for people's security and wellbeing.  Drawing upon recent reports he will present what we know about progress towards the goals and targets, in the UK and globally, and describe future prospects.  He will argue that current efforts must be complemented by actions across all sectors of the economy and society to promote and enable the transformable changes needed to ensure that people and nature can thrive together.

As the former Deputy Executive Secretary and Acting Executive Secretary of the of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, David was instrumental in facilitating the finalization and adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP-15 in Montreal in 2022. He had a long career at the United Nations, first at the Food and Agriculture Organization, and later at CBD. David has extensive experience in environmental and agricultural science and policy, and international negotiations. He built strong and productive working relationships with countries in all regions and with partners in civil society, indigenous peoples and local communities, international organizations, and the scientific community. David was a lead author for the third, fourth and fifth editions of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, the CBD's flagship publication. He also contributed to various assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and was a lead author for the Biodiversity Synthesis of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He has edited four books on agricultural biodiversity and has written numerous papers on biodiversity science and policy. He holds an MA in Agricultural and Forest Sciences and a DPhil in Plant Physiology, both from the University of Oxford.

'Putting nature on a path to recovery: how are we doing?' with Dr David Cooper