Four Steps for the Earth: mainstreaming the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

The upcoming meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and future adoption of the new Global Biodiversity Framework, represent an opportunity to transform humanity's relationship with nature. Restoring nature while meeting human needs requires a bold vision, but this will only succeed if biodiversity conservation can be mainstreamed in society. Here, we present an overarching framework that could support this mainstreaming: the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy. This novel framework places the well-established four-step Mitigation Hierarchy for mitigating and compensating the impacts of developments on biodiversity (1: Avoid, 2: Minimise, 3: Restore, 4: Offset, towards a target such as No Net Loss of biodiversity) within a broader framing that encompasses all conservation actions. We illustrate the potential application of the framework in four cases; national governments, sub-national levels (specifically the City of London, a fishery, and indigenous groups), companies, and the general public. The Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy supports decisions about both the choice of actions to conserve and restore nature, and evaluation of the effectiveness of those actions, across sectors and scales. As such it can guide actions towards a sustainable future for people and nature in support of the CBD's vision.