In April 2018 the Convention on Biological Diversity organized a first of its kind debate on biodiversity communications. The gathering brought together media, communications and biodiversity professionals at the Cambridge Conservation Initiative. Participants focused on identifying the challenges to effective biodiversity advocacy and how to avoid fragmentation and competing messaging to bring coherence and impact.
They discussed the benefits of collaboration across conservations, broader environmental and media organizations and how to best amplify messaging around the needs to protect the planet’s biodiversity from further plunder and degradation. They also discussed how to mobilize a groundswell of public and political support to meet the Aichi Targets.
Participants developed mock communications campaigns based on the Aichi targets and identified different ways of reaching policy makers outside of the environmental sphere.
The debate helped the Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat to meet the communications and advocacy objectives of the convention by:
- Ensuring that effective communication on biodiversity reaches decision makers outside the conservation community. They discussed how messaging should be evidence based for the need and benefits of mitigating biodiversity loss and sustainably managing biodiversity.
- Sharing data that makes the case for achieving the Aichi targets and sustainably managing biodiversity with business and ministers and other decision makers beyond the ministry of environment.
- Improving cooperation between conservation, broader environmental and media organizations to form well designed messaging.
- Developing improved campaign templates to help guide communication activities more effectively.
- Implementing effective media trainings on biodiversity with other environmental conventions.
For more information, please contact Niamh.Brannigan[at]un.org
