Land degradation affects nearly 40% of the world’s land, and the challenges facing biodiversity, climate and land agendas are deeply interconnected. For many countries, the priority now is to translate this shared urgency into coordinated implementation. On 21 August, the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership and UNDP colleagues hosted the session “NBSAP Accelerator Partnership – Enabling Biodiversity Action” at the UNDP-UNESCO Pavilion during UNCCD COP17, to show how the Accelerator’s mechanisms are helping close that gap and to reflect on country-led, integrated approaches to implementing the Rio Conventions.

The NBSAP Accelerator Partnership is a country-led initiative with 130 members — 69 countries, 16 institutions and 45 non-state actors. Through its MatchMaking Mechanism (MMM) and Facilitator Programme, the Accelerator connects country requests for NBSAP implementation with the technical, financial and knowledge resources to accelerate implementation. The Accelerator Action Account (AAA) MPTF complements this as a strategic last-resort funding mechanism, closing verified implementation gaps by supporting high-priority, country-led NBSAP actions that remain unmatched through the MMM.

Nature-climate-land synergies aren’t a separate agenda. Restoration, forests, soils, watersheds, mangroves and resilient landscapes can advance biodiversity, climate resilience and land restoration all at once. The real challenge is moving from alignment on paper to implementation. Moderated by Saran Selenge (UNDP), the session was opened by Tim Scott (UNDP) introducing the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership and its MatchMaking Mechanism, followed by Elena Sentieri (UNDP), who presented the Accelerator Action Account (AAA) MPTF — the Accelerator’s dedicated funding mechanism for closing high-priority implementation gaps that the MMM cannot match. Together, these mechanisms are designed to help countries turn nature-climate-land synergies into delivery.

Faith Nyokabi, Senior Environment Officer at Kenya’s Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, shared how Kenya put these tools to work, framed around two threads: Kenya’s success story as an NBSAP Accelerator Partnership member, and how the country has strengthened national coordination across its biodiversity, land degradation, and climate action agendas. Kenya turned first to the MMM to find partners for real priorities, including incentivizing nature-based solutions and integrating biodiversity into development planning. A remaining unmatched high-priority request was subsequently submitted to the AAA for consideration. 

Participants, including the Mongolian delegation, asked direct questions about how to access the MMM and the AAA and what outcomes to expect. That peer-to-peer exchange — countries learning from countries — is where real momentum builds. In a promising sign of the session’s impact, Mongolia has since expressed interest in joining the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership.

The exchange  pointed to where the Accelerator adds the most value: not only introducing its tools, but connecting with countries that are ready to use them. As more countries seek to align biodiversity, climate, and land action, the Accelerator’s growing membership, network of Facilitators, and matchmaking support, help turn countries’ commitments into results.

The Accelerator Action Account (AAA) is a dedicated multi-partner trust fund (MPTF) established to provide reserve funding for the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership’s MatchMaking Mechanism of the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership. The AAA helps maximize the delivery of technical support and ensure the fulfillment of member country requests for support, particularly those that are difficult to support through existing resources.