Chapter 02 · Nature, land & waterBiodiversity & Nature
Biodiversity action plan
Definition
At national level, the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP): the principal instrument for implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity, required under CBD Article 6, through which each of the 196 Parties sets national targets and measures. Parties were requested to submit revised NBSAPs aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework by COP16 (2024) — functioning for biodiversity much as NDCs do for climate. At corporate level, a biodiversity action plan is a site or company strategy to manage impacts and dependencies on nature, often applying the mitigation hierarchy.
References
Decision 15/6 requests; alignment with GBF goals and targets; adoption as policy/legal instruments; mainstreaming instruction.
Submission status (55 NBSAPs, 140 national targets by Oct 2025); NDC analogy; non-binding character.
Overview
What it means
NBSAPs translate the GBF's four 2050 goals and 23 targets for 2030 into national policy; unlike NDCs, however, their submission is not legally binding, and most countries missed the COP16 deadline — by late 2025 only 55 Parties had submitted updated NBSAPs (140 had submitted national targets). Corporate BAPs are encouraged by disclosure frameworks (TNFD, GRI 101) and lenders' safeguard standards.
How it is used
Governments use NBSAPs to coordinate environment, agriculture, planning and finance ministries; development partners (GEF, UNDP) fund preparation. Companies use BAPs to structure baseline studies, impact management and monitoring for biodiversity-sensitive operations.
Why it matters
The NBSAP is where global biodiversity ambition meets national delivery — its weakness (voluntary, delayed) is a central implementation gap of the GBF. Corporate BAPs similarly test whether nature commitments survive contact with operations.