Is the world delivering on commitments to reduce threats to biodiversity?

Targets 1-8: Reducing threats to biodiversity

Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate with profound consequences for ecosystems and the life they support. Halting and reversing this decline depends on reducing the pressures driving biodiversity loss and enabling ecosystems and species to recover.  

Targets 1-8 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework focus on reducing threats to biodiversity. They include commitments to plan and manage all areas to reduce biodiversity loss; restore 30% of degraded ecosystems; conserve 30% of land, water and seas; halt species extinctions, protect genetic diversity and manage human-wildlife conflicts; ensure sustainable, safe and legal harvesting and trade of wild species; reduce the introduction of invasive alien species by 50%; reduce pollution to levels not harmful to biodiversity; and minimise the impacts of climate change on biodiversity.  

Across the eight targets, countries are making progress on several fronts. 193 million hectares were reported by Parties as under restoration as of 2025, while protected and conserved areas have continued to expand on land and at sea. Species recovery and conservation are included in national targets of 90 per cent of Parties and 98 per cent have legal frameworks regulating trade in wild species. Among the 27 per cent of Parties reporting on fish stocks, the data indicates improving trends, while more than 80 per cent aim to address the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in their national targets.  

But progress is not yet happening at the scale or pace needed to meet the 2030 targets. Current conservation commitments fall short of the 30% target with a separate analysis estimating that commitments would bring total coverage to 23% by 2030. On climate change, despite widespread inclusion in national planning, only 2% of Parties report measures as fully implemented. And while seven in ten Parties include measures to eradicate or control invasive alien species, self-assessed progress remains among the lowest across Targets 1-8. 

Progress is also uneven. For example, restoration is further advanced in terrestrial ecosystems than in marine, coastal and freshwater ecosystems. Attention to expanding protected and conserved area coverage is not matched by the same level of effective management, ecological connectivity and equitable governance. And while nearly three-quarters of Parties have defined measures addressing pollution, only around one in five among them have set quantitative targets on nutrients and pesticides and only 13% on highly hazardous chemicals. 

A similar pattern is seen with spatial planning. While 72% of Parties address spatial planning in their national targets, only 48% specifically address biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning and 30% recognise the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in spatial planning and management processes. Across several targets, taking action on one part of a target does not necessarily mean its full scope is being addressed. 

There are also gaps in understanding what this action is achieving for biodiversity. Countries report widespread measures to address pollution risk, but gaps in data make it difficult to determine whether measures are reducing risks and impacts on biodiversity. More broadly, gaps in data and monitoring make it difficult to track how biodiversity itself is changing. While half of national reports provide a snapshot of the extent of natural ecosystems, less than 1% provide data over time, which is needed to show whether ecosystems are shrinking, stable or recovering.  

Taken together, the evidence shows action across all eight targets but also significant gaps in implementation and in monitoring its results. With less than five years to 2030, closing those gaps will be essential to reducing the pressures driving biodiversity loss and enabling ecosystems and species to recover. 

Complete findings and assessment of progress across Targets 1-8 will be available in the forthcoming global report, State of Biodiversity Action.