Every year on 22 May, the global community celebrates the International Day for Biodiversity (IDB), a temporal focal point for researchers, policy-makers and stakeholders involved with the conservation of the Earth’s biosphere. This is an occasion to both celebrate the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD) in 1992 and facilitate broader support for the implementation of this crucial agreement and its associated statutes.

For 2025, the Convention’s Secretariat has selected the theme of “harmony with nature and sustainable development”. This choice is a reflection of the desired and necessary convergence between the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). In this sense, a pursuit of both in a complementary fashion is seen as a necessary prerequisite to fulfilling the vision behind the Pact for the Future, an action-oriented resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly last year.

In the run-up to the date in question, the key messages accompanying this year’s public IDB campaign have been announced: 

• Biodiversity is the foundation of all life on Earth. It is fundamental to human well-being, a healthy planet, and economic prosperity for all people. We depend on it for food, medicine, energy, clean air and water, protection from natural disasters as well as recreation and cultural inspiration.

•  The KM-GBF sets out an ambitious blueprint for the transformation of our societies’ relationship with nature, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs and the Pact for the Future.

• The implementation of the SDGs brings about or catalyses society- and economy-wide transformations, including in agrifood systems, infrastructure, industry, energy systems consumption and production patterns, water and ecosystem management, urban planning, education and gender equality. These transformations are essential to the achievement of the KM-GBF and the fulfilment of its vision: “life in harmony with nature”. 

• The 23 action targets of the KM-GBF are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs and contribute to their achievement. The streams of national implementation of the KM-GBF and the SDGs must reflect this alignment through greater integration and synergies.

• All parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity are expected to prepare National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) reflecting the ambition of the KM-GBF. To maximize synergy, the NBSAPs should be integrated into broader National Sustainable Development Strategies guided by the SDGs and the Pact for the Future.

• Success in the implementation of the KM-GBF and the SDGs requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-society endeavour. We need all hands on deck, including those of indigenous peoples and local communities, businesses, women and youth.

According to the Secretariat, the purpose of this year’s campaign is about “instilling a sense of urgency and advocating for accelerated implementation” with regard to the KM-GBF and the 2030 Agenda as only five years remain until the watershed moment when both are meant to deliver tangible results on the ground on a transcontinental scale.

More about the outreach effort and how one can take part in it can be found here. In commemoration of the IDB, CO-OP4CBD is also conducting its own complementary campaign, #TransformativeChange4Biodiversity, along with its partner projects within the Transformative Change Cluster. The list of these fellow initiatives includes BioAgora, BIONEXT, BIOTraCes, BioValue, RESPIN, TCforBE and TRANSPATH. Follow CO-OP4CBD on LinkedIn and Bluesky for all our special campaign content in the run-up to 22 May.