Knowledge Support Service for Biodiversity

What does the Knowledge Support Service do?

The Knowledge Support Service for Biodiversity is an open-access online platform that helps users find and use information to support monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). It has an initial focus on resources related to the headline indicators of the Monitoring Framework and supports monitoring at national, regional and global scales.

The Service is primarily intended to support Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as regional and subregional technical and scientific cooperation support centres (TSCCs), by providing access to relevant resources for monitoring and reporting progress on NBSAPs and the KMGBF.

The Service connects users to existing guidance, tools, data, metadata and methodologies, including resources related to the headline indicators. It does not host data itself; instead, it links to resources made available by partners as well as indicator and data custodians across the biodiversity knowledge community.

To find the TSSC that supports your country or region, visit the CBD Secretariat website.  

How to use the Knowledge Support Service

• Find a resource

The Knowledge Support Service brings together resources to support implementation and monitoring of the KMGBF. Use the search bar or the available filters to find resources by e.g. KMGBF target, region, theme, and biome.

• Using the filters

Filter options reflect how resources are currently categorised on the platform and may change as new resources are added.

• How resources are displayed

The most recently added resources appear first. Resources are not ordered alphabetically or by a particular filter.

Why is the Knowledge Support Service needed?

In December 2022, at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15.2), Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and associated package of decisions, including:

• CBD/COP/Decision 15/4: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
• CBD/COP/Decision 15/5: the Monitoring Framework for the Global Biodiversity Framework
• CBD/COP/Decision 15/6: Mechanisms for planning, monitoring, reporting and review
• CBD/COP/Decision 15/7: Resource mobilization
• CBD/COP/Decision 15/8: Capacity-building and development and technical and scientific cooperation
• CBD/COP/Decision 15/16: Knowledge management and the Clearing-House Mechanism

The implementation of the KMGBF requires countries to generate, monitor, report and assess data, information and knowledge. Many Parties have identified the need for national-level capacity-building and technical and scientific cooperation to strengthen these efforts.

The Knowledge Support Service responds to this need by helping users find relevant existing knowledge, guidance, tools and data in one place.

How was the Knowledge Support Service developed?

Between 2022 and 2024, UNEP-WCMC, in collaboration with partners, facilitated consultations — including an Informal Advisory Group, side events at CBD COP15 and COP16, and a co-design workshop — to identify the needs and opportunities for a knowledge support service that could support Parties in monitoring and reporting on the Global Biodiversity Framework.

These consultations directly shaped the Service’s design and scope, confirming the need for a platform focused on national monitoring and reporting, with a particular focus on the headline indicators of the Monitoring Framework. The Service has since also been shaped by developments at COP16, including the CBD Knowledge Management Strategy adopted under CBD/COP/Decision 16/9 and the Global Coordination Entity established under CBD/COP/Decision 16/3.

How does it relate to other initiatives?

The Knowledge Support Service is built by connecting existing knowledge, tools and guidance from across the biodiversity community.

The initial collection of resources was compiled using references provided by headline indicator data reporters in the metadata for the headline indicators of the KMGBF (CBD/SBSTTA/28/INF/4), as well as through the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP) and the Technical Support Survey developed under the National Monitoring Support Initiative in collaboration with the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership.

The National Monitoring Support Initiative, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN), supports Parties in strengthening national monitoring systems. The Knowledge Support Service complement this work by connecting users to relevant knowledge, guidance and tools.

Together, the Initiative and the Service aim to provide Parties with a more coherent and joined-up source of support for monitoring and reporting on progress towards the KMGBF, in support of its enhanced implementation.

Contact us

If your organization has resources relevant to supporting Parties in their monitoring or reporting progress towards the KMGBF, please be in touch so we can help make them widely accessible.

[Submit your resource]

For questions about the Knowledge Support Service, or to find out more about how to get involved, please email us.