Strengthen the mechanisms for regional cooperation and strategic planning on biodiversity conservation and implementation of the commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity

ROADMAP PROGRESS

The 2025 GARI reports that the regional cooperation architecture for biodiversity conservation was substantially reinforced during the reporting period. The Biodiversity Task Force of the Western Balkans, established under the Regional Working Group on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans and with its Secretariat hosted by IUCN ECARO, continues to steer biodiversity policy, advise governments, support knowledge exchange and engage with European and global processes, including the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. A significant step in strengthening its technical capacity was the launch in June 2025 of a call for experts to join two new thematic groups: the Thematic Group on Biodiversity Conservation, covering biodiversity policy, species and habitat protection, monitoring and evaluation and protected area network management; and the Thematic Group on Ecosystem Restoration, covering restoration ecology in forests, wetlands and grasslands, Nature-based Solutions, forest landscape restoration and spatial planning. Both were formally convened at the Belgrade gathering in January 2026, where they held their inaugural meetings under the ADAPT 2.0 and Greening the Western Balkans project frameworks, and both are tasked with providing scientific and strategic guidance for the WB6 Forest Landscape Restoration Plan and the BSP 2030.

The BSP 2030 provides the overarching strategic framework for regional cooperation, organised around five goals: expanding and effectively managing protected areas; restoring degraded ecosystems; preventing species loss; integrating biodiversity into key sectors; and improving governance, knowledge and financing. A critical governance gap identified during the reporting period is the expiry or absence of active domestic-level biodiversity strategies. The 2025 SWG RRD assessment found that only North Macedonia has an active and valid domestic-level biodiversity strategy, while those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia have expired and that of Montenegro was evaluated as insufficiently implemented, and Kosovo* and Albania face significant capacity constraints in implementing their existing frameworks; all WB6 require their biodiversity strategies and action plans to be updated, in some cases since 2014. Adoption of updated plans aligned with the five strategic goals, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 target of protecting at least 30% of land and sea by 2030 remains the responsibility of each of the WB6.

Note: Action 55 of the first Green Agenda Action Plan  (2021–2030), concerning the strengthening of regional cooperation mechanisms and strategic coordination on biodiversity conservation and implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity commitments is not retained as a separate action in the Revised Action Plan (2025–2030). Its objectives are addressed through broader actions supporting regional biodiversity governance, coordination and implementation of global biodiversity frameworks.