Science on ecosystems and people to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

In December 2022, members of the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) (https://www.cbd.int/gbf/targets/) to guide international biodiversity conservation efforts until 2030 in order to be able to live ‘in harmony with nature’ by 2050. This framework addresses the implementation gap left after the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which were the previous global instrument for mainstreaming biodiversity conservation between 2010 and 2020 (IPBES, Díaz et al. Citation2019). As biodiversity continues to decline (IPBES, Díaz et al. Citation2019), the global scholarly community has been integrally involved in the development of the GBF, advancing crucial insights to support biodiversity strategies and action plans at different scales over time to ensure fair and effective conservation. In addition, the current situation demands that greater attention is paid to the diverse forms of human-nature connectedness and the co-production of knowledge and solutions by academia, governments, private sectors, alongside local communities and Indigenous Peoples to tackle issues of equity in biodiversity conservation, research, and management (Wyborn et al. Citation2021). Further research into the underlying political and justice dimensions of conservation and the recognition and inclusion of diverse knowledge systems and their holders (Pascual et al. Citation2022) is needed to support the actual achievement of the new Global Biodiversity Targets (for 2030) and Goals (for 2050).