Global policy for assisted colonization of species.

Negotiations in advance of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (1) in October 2021 will set the course of international conservation for the next several decades, providing a critical opportunity to harmonize policy and set priorities for species conservation and climate change adaptation. The CBD is the foundational intergovernmental agreement on biodiversity conservation and drives both government actions and donor priorities. However, the treaty itself and its existing strategic framework (the “Aichi targets”) were agreed on some time ago (1992 and 2010, respectively) and so need to match advances in knowledge and evidence on the immediate and devastating impacts of climate change. Over just the past few years, the frequency and severity of extreme weather events have accelerated. By one recent estimate, one-third of species may now have an increased risk of extinction from climate change (2).