International Day for Biological Diversity 2026: Advocating for biodiversity action from the ground up

As the global biodiversity crisis deepens, the rising awareness of environmental degradation and ecosystem collapse is increasingly translating into action, reflected in stronger calls and action for restoration and regeneration. Public concern is built into consumer demand for sustainable products and broader participation in environmental campaigns and conservation initiatives. Yet the scale of the challenge remains immense. The most comprehensive global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES, 2019) estimates that around one million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction, many within just a few decades.

Forests, which cover more than one-third of the Earth’s land surface, are central to safeguarding global biodiversity. They provide critical habitats for terrestrial species and support marine ecosystems through coastal forests such as mangroves, which offer both ecological and protective benefits. According to the United Nations’ Global Forest Goals Report 2026, forests are home to 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species and 68% of mammal species found on land.

Against this backdrop, the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) plays a vital role in promoting the sustainable management and conservation of tropical forests, while supporting the trade of sustainably sourced and legally harvested tropical timber. Representing countries that together account for 80% of the world’s tropical forests, from mountain landscapes to coastal ecosystems, ITTO has worked tirelessly over 40 years with its members to advance sustainable forest management practices that maintain healthy, productive and biodiverse ecosystems. This expertise is increasingly important for implementing the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and other international biodiversity and climate commitments.

Although deforestation rates have slowed in some regions, forest loss continues to be driven by agricultural expansion, climate-related pressures and rising demand for forest-based products, according to The State of the World’s Forests 2024, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The report underscores the urgent need to strengthen forest conservation and sustainable management efforts as part of the global response to biodiversity loss and forest conservation.

Acting locally for global impact

Addressing biodiversity loss is most effective when various stakeholders — including governments, local communities, Indigenous peoples, women and youth groups, the private sector, and other civil society organizations — are engaged collectively.

This year’s celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) 2026 leverages the potency of local action that embraces a multistakeholder, whole-of-nation approach, as manifested in its theme, “Acting locally for global impact.”

Celebrated in commemoration of the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 22 May 1992, the IDB not only provides an annual opportunity to raise awareness on the indispensability of biodiversity in securing the welfare of life on Earth but also highlights the necessary synergy between action on the ground and efforts at higher scales.

The ITTO, since its establishment four decades ago, has recognized the complementarity of initiatives driven by local actors and the creation of enabling environments that facilitate the protection and sustainable management of forests and all that it holds.

“One cannot exist without the other. The participation of local stakeholders, primarily forest-dependent communities, is critical in ensuring the success of conservation initiatives implemented in service of national, regional, and global goals,” said ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru. 

“Stakeholders however need institutional support that underpins their meaningful participation, contributing to broader conservation targets,” she added.

 Mobilizing local actors for biodiversity conservation

Strategic partnership with local actors is a permanent fixture in ITTO’s sustainable forest management initiatives. A recently concluded project in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, for instance, capitalized on the direct involvement of a constellation of stakeholders, foremost among them Indigenous Mayan communities, researchers, and students.

The project, implemented by the National Autonomous University of Mexico in coordination with the National Forestry Agency of Mexico, funded by the Government of Japan, has effectively mobilized these sectors to achieve its goal of conserving biodiversity and preserving local traditions and knowledge in the Peninsula.

Another project, which focused on conserving the genetic diversity of tengkawang (Shorea sp.) tree species, some of which are threatened or endangered, built the capacity of Indigenous communities in West, East, and Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, in sustainable harvesting methods and processing of tengkawang seeds. Intensive community dialogues and local training workshops on appropriate technologies, among other participatory approaches, were employed.

In Congo, ITTO and the Wildlife Conservation Society implemented an initiative to promote sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation in forest concession areas contiguous to the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the northern part of the country.

Partner communities were engaged in a conservation awareness campaign, where the outputs and aims of the project were discussed. Selected members were later trained in wildlife management based on traditional community land tenure systems; community-based hunting committees were established where they served as eco-guards to enforce regulations aimed at minimizing commercial and illegal hunting.

From the local stage to the global arena

These initiatives are mere examples of the ITTO’s efforts which provide opportunities for local actors to be actively involved in planning and implementing biodiversity conservation initiatives, offering the much-needed impetus for broader efforts at higher scales. ITTO works tirelessly to ensure that enabling policy and institutional environments are in place at these levels.

ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru exemplifies this approach through the Joint ITTO-CBD Collaborative Initiative for Tropical Forest Biodiversity (launched in 2011), which facilitated global-scale initiatives to conserve and sustainably use tropical forest biodiversity, the renewed CBD-ITTO Joint Initiative and the upcoming ITTO-IUCN guidelines for the conservation of biodiversity in tropical forest landscapes. 

“These collaborations emphasize the significance of direct stakeholder participation by building their capacity for biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest management, while ensuring that these initiatives contribute to macro scale objectives”, she explained.

ITTO has also supported programs that facilitate transboundary community participation in biodiversity efforts. One striking example is the project implemented in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian parts of the Condor Cordillera, where an ecological conservation area was established as an offshoot of a comprehensive peace accord signed to resolve a border dispute between the two countries.

ITTO’s initiatives clearly show that the IDB 2026 theme has been anchored in ITTO’s work for 4 decades, well beyond mere rhetoric, evidencing actual efforts on the ground with tangible outcomes that reverberate across the globe. Urgent transformative change is imperative to address finance gaps of US$ 1-4 trillion a year to meet the objectives of  SDGs-biodiversity-climate-water-soil and avoid global interconnected crises in years to come.