The Insufficient Coverage of Genetic Diversity in Conservation
Geographic distribution and income levels of Parties to the CBD that were included in this study relative to CBD Parties not included and non CBD Parties.
Genetic diversity is considered important but interpreted narrowly in country reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity: Current actions and indicators are insufficient
Human activities are increasingly placing life-supporting ecosystems and natural resources under threat. Many countries have signed international accords, such as the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to halt this biodiversity crisis. Ecosystems, species, and DNA, represent important levels of biodiversity, but the loss of genetic diversity has been relatively underappreciated for decades in both policy and practice.
“Genetic diversity has declined globally over the past century in wild populations. The remaining genetic diversity is not well safeguarded in situ or ex situ.”
To inform future policy, monitoring, and reporting efforts that focus on limiting biodiversity loss, we evaluated how Parties to the CBD report on genetic diversity. By examining 114 CBD National Reports, we assessed reported actions, progress, values and indicators related to genetic diversity.
“The consideration of genetic diversity, genetic approaches, or progress towards genetic diversity targets in National Reports has rarely been evaluated- but this is an urgent task.”
Most Parties recognized the importance of genetic diversity. However, genetic diversity targets mainly focused on crops and livestock (a small fraction of all species), and reported actions to conserve genetic diversity mainly involved ex situ facilities (e.g., seed banks) and legislation, rather than monitoring and in situ intervention. The most commonly reported status indicators are not well correlated to maintaining genetic diversity. Lastly, few reports mentioned genetic monitoring using DNA data, indigenous use and knowledge of genetic diversity, or development of strategies to conserve genetic diversity.
“Although most countries mentioned the importance of genetic diversity, actual reporting was rather limited. When reported, they primarily referred to agricultural species and were limited in scope.”
We make several recommendations for the post-2020 CBD Biodiversity Framework, and similar efforts such as IPBES, to improve awareness, assessment, and monitoring of genetic diversity, and facilitate consistent and complete reporting in the future.