Linking the Mountain Futures Action Plan to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Global mountains hold great value to many people, harbor great amounts of biodiversity and provide many ecosystems services. Yet they have not been well-represented in specific targets under international policy conventions including the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on Biological Diversity. This paper explores the efforts of one consortium of actors led by the Mountain Futures Initiative, to create and implement an action plan to link research and field projects at the Honghe Innovations Centre for Mountain Futures to targets in the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This action plan will combine research on agroforestry, soil restoration, ecosystems restoration and connectivity, new green products and supply chains, and more in service of both healthy ecosystem outcomes and lifeways support for local smallholder farmers. Results show that connecting local research goals to GBF targets may leverage more positive outcomes for people and nature.