The Diffusion of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and Its Aichi Biodiversity Targets within the Biodiversity Cluster: An Illustration of Current Trends in the Global Governance of Biodiversity and Ecosystems
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The 2010 Strategic Plan for Biodiveristy and its Aichi targets, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, was largely endorsed as a general framework by the main conventions in the field of biodiversity and ecosystems governance. This paper discusses this example of diffusion by analysing the actors who facilitated it and by studying its potential legal effects. One of the main findings of this study is that the diffusion of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity was mainly facilitated by the Secretariats of the different multilateral environmental agreements, illustrating as such the important role of these relatively unknown actors of international environmental governance. Also, this study argues that, while the simple incorporation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its targets in other conventions has weak legal effects, the cumulative diffusion associated with other decisions taken within the biodiversity regime can have very concrete legal consequences, whether it be on treaty interpretation or access to Global Environment Facility funding.
