The first detailed draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework has been recently released by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. It establishes 21 targets to be achieved in 2030, in order to reduce threats to biodiversity and to respond to the needs of the population through sustainable and equitable management of the natural resources. It also provides the tools to effectively implement these measures. 

One of the goals to reduce threats to biodiversity is to ensure the conservation of at least 30% of the world's land and marine areas, especially those of particular importance to biodiversity and its essential services to people. It is proposed that they should be conserved through effective, ecologically representative, and well-connected protected areas, as well as other conservation measures.  

In this sense, the global network of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, among which the 70 Biosphere Reserves of the Mediterranean Network (MedMaB) are included, already covers more than seven million square kilometers, a size similar to Australia, which corresponds to 6.5% of the earth's surface. This percentage is expected to increase in the coming years as new Reserves are declared, thus contributing to reaching the 30% goal set in this first draft.   

This draft will undergo further refinement during online negotiations in late summer, before being presented for consideration at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-15), which will be held in Kunming (China) in October, provided not further postponements are needed due to the pandemic.