However, many of the targets contained vague language and experts say countries were not bound to take specific action.
After the Parties adopted the Aichi Targets, they were expected to formulate their own national biodiversity strategies that would mimic the targets set by Aichi. Almost all parties created these strategies, but most were never fully implemented.
Did Aichi’s goals succeed?
The most notable Aichi objective – and one of the few to include a numerical target – aimed to protect or conserve 17% of all land and inland waters and 10% of the ocean by the end of the decade.
While some progress was made toward that goal, the world ultimately fell short. Today about 15% of the world’s land and 8% of ocean areas are under some form of protection, although the level of protection varies.
According to a September 2020 United Nations assessment, no country has met all 20 Aichi targets within its borders.
The evaluation found that there was no significant progress on about 10% of the targets. Six targets were deemed “partially achieved”, including the land and ocean conservation target.
“Globally, none of the Aichi biodiversity targets were met or achieved, but we also know that some progress has been made at the national level in many countries,” said CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Marma.
In the end, Aichi was deemed a failure by the United Nations and the CBD Secretariat called on the parties to come up with another guiding document to guide conservation efforts in 2030 and beyond.
Why did Aichi’s goals fail?
Experts say the lack of clearly defined metrics has made Aichi’s targets difficult to implement.
Basil van Hawer, who is helping mediate talks on the new targets on behalf of the CBD, said “Aichi was made up of aspirational targets, which … were great for enabling people to do a lot, but good for communication”. was not.”