Effectively delivering on Climate and Nature: NDCs, NAPs and NBSAPs Synergies – A checklist for national policymakers

A Synergistic Approach to Climate and Nature 

The biodiversity and climate change crises are inextricably interlinked – this has been recognized by science and in multiple decisions, declarations, and calls for enhanced cooperation under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Con­vention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Aligning climate mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity commitments and strategies en­sures a holistic approach, allowing different commitments and strategies to reinforce each other. It will help build coherence, minimize risks, support the efficient use of valuable resources, and avoid duplication of work.

The next two years represent an important oppor­tunity to foster synergies, integration, and alignment in the planning and implementation of national climate change and biodiversity commitments and strategies, such as the UNFCCC’s NDCs and NAPs, and the NBSAPs under the CBD. This brief, developed in co-operation between the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), looks across these policy instruments with an integrated lens to provide practical recommendations on how national-level policymakers could—without causing any further delay—advance synergistic, just, and gender-responsive actions on climate and nature at this critical juncture.

This checklist for national policymakers illustrates potential opportunities and interactions during the development or update of the NDC, NAP, and NBSAP. It provides a list of points for consideration to enhance synergies and co-benefits throughout planning and implementation phases, ensuring gender-responsive and socially inclusive approaches.