The COP on Biodiversity takes place every 2 years. In 2022, it resulted in an agreement on the Global Framework for Biodiversity, which sets targets for signatory countries to protect biodiversity by 2030 and 2050. In 2026, during COP17, signatories of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will be providing a first report on the relevance of their national strategies to implementing the agreement. Given the important biodiversity financing gap, the topic of funding will be central to ensure that commitments for 2030 will be met.

Waste management is essential for public health, improving living conditions and protecting biodiversity. Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of waste helps to limit the impact of this sector on ecosystems and living organisms, in particular through:

• Improved collection to prevent waste, particularly plastics and microplastics, from leaking into the environment, both on land and at sea;
• The availability and improvement of final disposal facilities everywhere and for everyone, in order to reduce soil, air and water pollution, for example by closing uncontrolled, uncovered landfills without leachate treatment in favour of engineered landfill that comply with the Basel Convention’s ESM of waste;
• Prevention, the first lever in the waste treatment hierarchy, which reduces waste generation and the use of natural resources, thereby helping to reduce human pressure on ecosystems, fauna and flora.
• Implementation of the hierarchy of actions of the circular economy, as trans-sectoral actions that will result in re-establishing a balance with natural resources, through changes in production, consumption and usage patterns.

FSWP participation

Through its participation in COP17 (remotely or in person), the FSWP will continue to highlight and emphasise the intrinsic links between waste and resource management and biodiversity conservation. It will carry the Global Push initiative, which aims to break down silos and work towards waste and resource management with a circularity approach that is truly holistic and systemic. Indeed, it is only through coordinated, cross-sectoral work that we can hope for a decontaminated, defossilised future, where economic growth is decoupled from resource extraction and the well-being of living organisms.
More information on the FSWP’s participation to come.