The Aichi Biodiversity Targets: achievements for marine conservation and priorities beyond 2020

Hannah Carr; Marina Abas; Loubna Boutahar; Olivia N Caretti; Wing Yan Chan; Abbie S A Chapman; Sarah N de Mendonça; Abigail Engleman; Filippo Ferrario; Kayelyn R Simmons; Jana Verdura; Anna Zivian

doi:10.7717/peerj.9743

The Aichi Biodiversity Targets: achievements for marine conservation and priorities beyond 2020

PeerJ. 2020 Dec 21:8:e9743. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9743. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Hannah Carr¹, Marina Abas², Loubna Boutahar^{3

4}, Olivia N Caretti⁵, Wing Yan Chan^{6

7}, Abbie S A Chapman^{8

9}, Sarah N de Mendonça¹⁰, Abigail Engleman¹¹, Filippo Ferrario¹², Kayelyn R Simmons⁵, Jana Verdura¹³, Anna Zivian¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ The Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK.
² Departamento de Ciencias Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
³ BioBio Research Center, BioEcoGen Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Rabat, Morocco.
⁴ Laboratorío de Biología Marina, Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
⁵ Department of Marine, Earth, & Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁶ Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, Australia.
⁷ School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁸ School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK.
⁹ Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
¹² Québec-Ocean and Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
¹³ Institut d'Ecologia Aquàtica, Facultat de Ciències, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain.
¹⁴ Ocean Conservancy, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.

Abstract

In 2010 the Conference of the Parties (COP) for the Convention on Biological Diversity revised and updated a Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which included the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Here a group of early career researchers mentored by senior scientists, convened as part of the 4th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, reflects on the accomplishments and shortfalls under four of the Aichi Targets considered highly relevant to marine conservation: target 6 (sustainable fisheries), 11 (protection measures), 15 (ecosystem restoration and resilience) and 19 (knowledge, science and technology). We conclude that although progress has been made towards the targets, these have not been fully achieved for the marine environment by the 2020 deadline. The progress made, however, lays the foundations for further work beyond 2020 to work towards the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. We identify key priorities that must be addressed to better enable marine biodiversity conservation efforts moving forward.

Keywords: 2020; Aichi; Biodiversity; Conservation; Marine; Priorities; Target.

Grants and funding

This research is sponsored by the NSERC Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe) and its Partners: Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and INREST (representing the Port of Sept-Îles and City of Sept-Îles). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.