Metadata Factsheet

3. Goals and Targets addressed

3a. Goal

N/A

3b. Target

Binary indicator for Target 8. Minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity and increase its resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions, including through nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches, while minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity.

5. Definitions, concepts and classifications

5a. Definition

3. Adaptation: Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.

4. Mitigation: A human intervention to reduce the drivers of climate change and ocean acidification, or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.

5. Disaster risk reduction: The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, evidence-based management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.

6. Climate change: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”.

7. Ocean acidification: Ongoing reduction in the pH of the ocean, caused primarily by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, but can also be exacerbated by local processes, such as the decomposition of organic material, microbial processes involved in nitrogen cycling and acidic wastewater discharge.

8. Minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity: This requires action to reduce the severity and rate of climate change and ocean acidification by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing any additional local factors or drivers. It also requires action to increase the resilience to, or reduce the sensitivity of, biodiversity to the effects of climate change and ocean acidification. These actions may include nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches, as well as considerations such as the siting of protected and conserved areas and species recovery programmes to take into account climate change and ocean acidification.

9. Minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity: While efforts and activities to address climate change could have the potential to generate significant positive impacts on biodiversity and those dependent on it, they could also unintentionally result in negative impacts if they are not appropriately designed and implemented. The potential benefits for, and risks to, biodiversity from specific climate actions should be assessed and understood prior to implementation. Once implemented, climate action should include effective monitoring, reporting and verification procedures. Taking into consideration biodiversity when designing, implementing and monitoring climate change adaptation and mitigation activities, can both deliver multiple benefits, and also contribute to avoiding negative impacts of the activities on biodiversity and ecosystems.

10. Climate action: Climate action refers to efforts taken to combat climate change and its impacts. These efforts include, but are not limited to, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, reducing concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere or ocean (reversing the associated effects of greenhouse gases (e.g. by enhancing ocean alkalinity), and/or taking action to build resilience or promote adaptation.

11. Resilience: The capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks (Walker et al. 2004). A concept initially developed and

5b. Method of computation

12. This indicator is a binary indicator and must be compiled from the answers to nine questions:

(a) 8.1 Does your country’s national biodiversity strategy and action plan include actions to prevent or minimize the impacts of the following (select all that apply)

(b) 8.2 Do your country’s climate change policies address the impacts of climate change on biodiversity?

(c) 8.3 Do your country’s other policies address the impacts of climate change on biodiversity?

(d) 8.4 Do your country’s other policies address the impacts of ocean acidification on biodiversity?

(e) 8.5 Are the impacts of climate change on biodiversity monitored and reported on?

(f) 8.6 Are the impacts of ocean acidification on biodiversity monitored and reported on?

(g) 8.7 Do your country’s policies or action plans on the impact of climate change and ocean acidification contain the following types of actions designed to increase biodiversity resilience or reduce impacts (select all that apply)

(h) 8.8 Are measures included in your country’s policies or actions plans to minimize the negative impacts of climate actions on biodiversity?

(i) 8.9 Are measures included in your country’s policies or actions plans to foster positive impacts of climate actions on biodiversity?

13. There are three possible answers to question 8.1:

(a) Climate change

(b) Ocean acidification

(c) None of the above

14. Each of the answers here is to be chosen using a “select all that apply” approach. Namely, if a country’s national biodiversity strategy and action plan (NBSAP) includes actions to prevent or minimize the impact of climate change and/or ocean acidification then select the option to which these apply. In other words, select each option for which the answer to 8.1 is “Yes”. If the NBSAP does not include actions to prevent or minimize the impact of neither climate change nor ocean acidification select “None of the above”. In this question, it is understood that an NBSAP exists, it has been adopted and it meets the criteria for 8.1. Note that if a country is landlocked, answer (b) is deemed not applicable.

15. There are four possible answers to questions 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.8 and 8.9:

(a) No

(b) Under development

(c) Partially

(d) Fully

16. A “No” answer implies that there is no mention nor consideration of the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in national policies on climate change (8.2) nor any consideration of the impacts of climate change (8.3) nor ocean acidification (8.4) on biodiversity in any other national policy. Current policy on climate change or other may be at any level of implementation (from draft to law) yet it fails to specifically address impacts on biodiversity. Additionally, no monitoring of the impacts of climate change (8.5) nor ocean acidification (8.6) on biodiversity is ongoing. Moreover, no measures are included in national policies nor action plans to minimize negative impacts (8.8) and foster positive impacts (8.9) of climate actions on biodiversity.

17. An “Under development” answer implies a concerted effort at the national level to include the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in climate (8.2) and other policy (8.3), to include the impacts of ocean acidification on biodiversity in policy (8.4), to start monitoring and reporting on these impacts (8.5 and 8.6) or to put measures in place to minimize negative impacts (8.8) and foster positive impacts (8.9) of climate actions on biodiversity. New climate or other policy drafts including biodiversity, or amendments to current policy to include biodiversity, may have been proposed, but these have not been accepted nor implemented yet. Additionally, monitoring programs and reporting systems may be in the design phase or be completed and accepted but not resourced, and therefore have not begun. Finally, new measures to account for biodiversity in climate action may have been designed and/or proposed but not yet implemented.

18. A “Partially” answer implies that:

(a) a country’s climate (8.2) or other (8.3) policies address some the impacts of climate change on biodiversity but not all, or addresses all the impacts of climate change but only on some aspects of biodiversity (e.g. species diversity)

(b) a country’s policies address some of the impacts of ocean acidification on biodiversity (8.4) but not all, or addresses all the impacts of ocean acidification but only on some aspects of biodiversity (e.g. species diversity)

(c) some or all the impacts of climate change on some or all of biodiversity are being monitored and/or reported (8.5)

(d) some or all the impacts of ocean acidification on some or all of biodiversity are being monitored and/or reported (8.6)

(e) measures are in place to minimize some of the negative impacts of climate actions on biodiversity (8.8) but not all, or to minimize all negative impacts of climate actions but only on some aspects of biodiversity (e.g. species diversity)

(f) measures are in place to foster positive impacts of climate actions on biodiversity (8.9) but not all, or to foster all positive impacts of climate actions but only on some aspects of biodiversity (e.g. species diversity)

19. If any one of the cases outlined applies, only partial achievement has been reached.

20. A “Fully” answer implies that all the conditions outlined in “Partially” have been met. Namely that all the impacts of climate change on biodiversity are addressed in national climate (8.2) and other (8.3) policy, that all impacts of ocean acidification on biodiversity are addressed in national policy (8.4), that monitoring and reporting on both these impacts on biodiversity is resourced and ongoing (8.5 and 8.6) and that measures are in place to both minimize all negative impacts (8.8) and foster all positive impacts of climate actions on biodiversity (8.9).

21. There are seven possible answers to question 8.7:

(a) Mitigation

(b) Adaptation

(c) Disaster risk reduction

(d) Nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches

(e) Policies to minimize negative and foster positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity

(f) Other

(g) None of the above

22. Each of the answers here is to be chosen using a “select all that apply” approach. Namely, if a country’s action plans, policies or strategies on the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification contain actions on mitigation, adaptation, disaster risk reduction, nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches, policies to minimize negative and foster positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity or other to increase biodiversity resilience or reduce impacts, then select the option(s) which apply. In other words, select each option for which the answer to 8.7 is “Yes”. In the case that “Others” is selected, please specify what this refers to in the free text section. If policies or action plans on the impact of climate change and ocean acidification do not contain any of the actions listed, select “None of the above”. In this question, it is understood that nations have plans to tackle climate change and ocean acidification and asks whether these actions are also designed to increase biodiversity resilience or not.

No