Biodiversity Blueprint Set for 2026

Saudi is planting over a million mangroves

In a key moment for global nature policy, the world’s governments have sketched the roadmap for the first collective review of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) — the landmark pact adopted in 2022 to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

At the 27th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-27) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Panama City, Parties agreed that the upcoming global review must be “facilitative, not punitive” — designed to build momentum and accountability rather than impose sanctions. The organization has used the acronym CBD, one of the key molecules in cannabis. Don’t be confused.

The meeting, attended by 800 delegates from around the world, focused on shaping the outline of the global progress report on the KMGBF’s 23 targets for 2030 — the targets which all 196 Parties to the CBD approved in 2022. The session also emphasised tighter coordination across climate, biodiversity and desertification treaties — underscoring a growing recognition that nature-loss, greenhouse-gas emissions and dry-land degradation are interlinked crises needing unified solutions.

As Panama’s Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Navarro, stated: “science-based decisions that deliver concrete results for people and life on Earth.” The agreed blueprint will guide the review process towards measurable outcomes and meaningful policy shifts rather than box-ticking.

The review – scheduled for 2026 in the lead-up to COP 17 (Yerevan, Armenia, October 2026) – will be anchored around five core axes:

Assess how countries are developing and implementing biodiversity plans, how inclusive and regionally representative they are, and how coordination, support and capacity-building are working.
Measure collective progress toward the KMGBF’s 23 global targets, comparing national and global goals, assessing successes, challenges and contributions from non-state actors.
Evaluate progress toward the Framework’s four overarching goals: summarising data and indicators, linking to targets, and offering science-based, non-binding options to address obstacles.
Examine means of implementation: identifying gaps in finance, institutional capacity, and specific challenges faced by developing countries, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth.
Review global cooperation: how multilateral agreements, institutions and non-governmental actors contribute to advancing the Framework’s vision for nature.

In the words of CBD Executive Secretary Astrid Schomaker: “This review is a vital checkpoint for the world’s commitment to nature. It allows us to see, with evidence and transparency, how far we’ve come … and where we must accelerate.” Still, she cautioned: “We’re running out of time … We must speed up our efforts and move towards taking action.”

Why This Matters for CleanTech, Finance & the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) Region

For the cleantech and sustainability sector — especially in the MENA region and emerging markets — this review sends critical signals that nature-positive investments will increasingly be measured not just by carbon outcomes, but by biodiversity, ecosystem service, and community outcomes as well.

Trade-offs between climate mitigation, land use and biodiversity are under scrutiny — meaning renewable energy, agritech, restoration and finance innovations must integrate biodiversity risk and opportunity. Developing countries, women, youth and Indigenous or local communities are now front and centre in measuring progress — policy, finance and technology must align accordingly.

Regional collaboration across climate, biodiversity and land-degradation architectures is gaining traction. Firms and funds operating in the MENA region should watch how cooperation, data-sharing and financing evolve.

For investors and entrepreneurs, the 2026 review offers a milestone for aligning new business models, green bonds or nature-based finance with emerging global biodiversity standards and expectations.

The upcoming KMGBF review is more than bureaucratic box-checking. It is a strategic inflection point: whether countries will shift from ambition to delivery, whether the private sector and civil society scale nature-positive business models, and whether global architecture for biodiversity, climate and land degradation will evolve toward coherence.

For the MENA region — facing climate stress, rapid land-use change, water scarcity and ecosystem vulnerability — this means stepping up. Governments, investors, start-ups and NGOs must align to the emerging agenda: biodiversity as a core pillar of sustainable development and climate action, not a side-note.

If we seize this moment, the 2026 review can catalyse a new wave of finance (see Green Finance mechanisms in the UAE), innovation and policy coherence — and move us closer to the vision of a nature-positive world by 2050. If not, the checkpoint risks becoming another missed opportunity while ecosystems, livelihoods and economies continue to degrade.