National Target

  published: 10 May 2019

Objective 5.3 - Ensure that this Strategy is taken into account in decision-making and policy discussions and encourage the development and use of guidelines for the integration of biodiversity into all relevant sectoral policies.

Belgium

The Belgian Biodiversity Strategy should play a part in decision-making processes and be considered at the decision-making and planning levels. Biodiversity concerns should be considered from the early stages of the drafting process when developing new plans, programs, legislative and regulatory frameworks.

The biodiversity policy should not be seen as independent of sectoral policies, but both should be mutually supportive: sectoral policies should support the implementation of national biodiversity goals while integration of biodiversity goals should be beneficial to the sectoral policies.

The sectoral integration of biodiversity, or its “mainstreaming”, means the integration of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in both cross-sectoral plans such as sustainable development, climate change adaptation/mitigation, trade, international cooperation and poverty reduction, and in sector-specific plans such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining, energy, tourism, transport, the chemical industry, finances, sciences policy and others. It implies changes in development models, strategies and thought patterns.

To operationalize the integration of biodiversity concerns into decision-making and policy discussions in sectors other than nature conservation, the application of sectoral guidelines on biodiversity mainstreaming will be promoted. The work will build on existing tools (such as the CBD’s Capacity Building module on Biodiversity Mainstreaming) and adapt them for Belgium if necessary. It is also extremely important to continually review the adequacy of legislation in furthering the objectives of the Belgian Biodiversity Strategy. The use of participative approaches can here be helpful.

EN
Level of application
National / Federal
Relevance of National Targets to Aichi Targets
Aichi-T1. Awareness of biodiversity values
 
Aichi-T4. Use of natural resources