Tackling the Unprecedented Biodiversity Loss: The International Law Response

Today, the loss of biodiversity is unprecedented. The latest Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report shows that more than one million species worldwide are threatened with extinction. Yet, international law has been addressing the issue of biodiversity for more than 30 years. While international law was limited to adopting treaties that focused their scope of application on well-defined species or territories, 1992 marked the adoption of the first universal and global instrument on biological diversity. Far from being an instrument of protection, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity was born out of the emergence of issues of conservation, exploitation and sharing of biodiversity, against a backdrop of North-South tensions. The Convention quickly evolved from a protectionist approach, thanks to the impetus of scientists, to an instrument of economic development. Today, states are faced with the difficult reality of a major decline in biodiversity, which will have significant impacts on trade, food security and the health of the world population. The last Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Montreal under a Chinese presidency, was seen as a major meeting focused on change. This was the watchword and the common thread that guided most of the speeches of the delegations. The Convention, however, is intimately linked to the goals that states are willing to set for themselves. This chapter proposes to review the foundations of international biodiversity law, while showing its limitations and shortcomings. From the Convention on Biological Diversity to the Global Biodiversity Framework for the post-2020 period, states seem determined to tackle the problem head on. With this movement, other instruments have recently been negotiated such as the World Trade Organization Agreement on Harmful Fishing Subsidies (adopted in 2022 at the 12th Ministerial Conference) which aims to find economic solutions to the problem of fish stock loss. States are also negotiating an international treaty, under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly, aimed at the sustainable management of marine biodiversity outside national jurisdictions, which is not yet regulated.