Kenya’s process of updating its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan reached a significant stage this month, as stakeholders gathered in Naivasha for a five-day review of the draft updated NBSAP. Held from 31 August to 4 September 2026, the workshop was convened by the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, with financial support from the United Nations Environment Programme under a Global Environment Facility project and technical leadership from the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), in its role as the Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The updated NBSAP will provide the national framework for implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its 23 global targets for 2030, translating them into nationally relevant targets, actions, responsibilities, indicators and implementation arrangements that reflect Kenya’s biodiversity context, national development priorities and sectoral policies.

The workshop was designed to convene approximately 40 participants from the Ministry and relevant State Departments, the National Environment Management Authority, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, and the National Treasury, alongside sector ministries responsible for agriculture, livestock, fisheries, land use, water and spatial planning, together with Indigenous Peoples and Local Community representatives, civil society and technical partners including WWF Kenya, and development partners supporting biodiversity monitoring, conservation area management and finance tracking.

The engagement used a participatory review approach, following a consistent sequence across the week: presentation, stakeholder discussion, group review, group report-back, and consolidation of recommendations. It was deliberately framed as a working session in which stakeholders would actively interrogate and improve the draft rather than simply receive presentations, and was not intended to constitute formal validation or approval.

Each day addressed a different part of the draft. Day one covered Kenya’s biodiversity status, trends and threats, lessons from previous NBSAP implementation, and the strategic framework of vision, mission and goals. Days two and three worked through the National Biodiversity Action Plan itself, from ecosystem management and restoration, the 30 by 30 commitment and ecological connectivity, through species recovery, human-wildlife conflict, invasive alien species, pollution and climate resilience, to benefit sharing, business and consumption, biodiversity mainstreaming across governance, inclusive participation, sustainable financing, and gender equality.

Day four turned to the implementation framework, covering institutional arrangements and coordination, the resource mobilization and finance plan for 2026 to 2030, capacity building and knowledge management, communication and public awareness, and gender-responsive implementation. The final day focused on monitoring and indicators, reporting and review mechanisms including linkages to CBD and KMGBF reporting, and the identification of implementation risks and mitigation measures.

Expected outputs included consolidated stakeholder comments across all parts of the draft, identification of relevant sectoral policies and evidence for incorporation, and recommendations on national targets, institutional roles, biodiversity financing, capacity building, gender mainstreaming, monitoring arrangements and implementation risks. The week closed with agreement on next steps for incorporating stakeholder inputs, and confirmation of a validation workshop to be held from 5 to 9 October 2026.