Evolution and Enlightenment of National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity

The national report of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the core instrument for promoting Parties' implementation of the Convention and tracking the effectiveness of biodiversity governance. Since the adoption of the standard format for the first national report in 1995, the national report has undergone profound changes through continuous revisions by the Conference of the Parties (COP). Based on relevant COP decisions, national report templates and associated indicator frameworks, this paper systematically reviews the transformation of national reports in five aspects: purpose, content, format, assessment requirements and submission modalities. It further analyzes the evolutionary process and characteristics of the indicator frameworks developed for the global biodiversity targets. The research reveals that the national reports present distinct trends towards result-orientation, standardization and quantification, while reflecting the trade-offs and balance between assessment needs and implementation capacities. At present, the preparation of national reports still faces practical challenges, including weak data foundations, insufficient continuity and methodological barriers of indicators, and limited capacity of Parties, which constrain the improvement of the efficiency and quality of national reports. Looking ahead, it is recommended to leverage international open data resources, promote the establishment of joint investigation and monitoring platforms, and scale up the support for investigation and monitoring projects to consolidate data foundations; strengthen the continuity of indicators, improve methodological bases, and enhance the assessment of indicator application effectiveness to further optimize the indicator framework; mobilize multi-source financial support, strengthen training and technical guidance, and promote inter-departmental coordination and working team building at the national level to mitigate capacity constraints for Parties.