Japan’s Circular Economy Vision Under the Action Plan | Chapter 6Implementing the National Biodiversity Strategy 2023–2030

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted during the second part of CBD-COP15 in December 2022, and Japan’s Cabinet approved the National Biodiversity Strategy 2023–2030 in March 2023. The strategy sets a society in harmony with nature by 2050 as its long-term goal and nature positive by 2030, which means halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, as its short-term goal.

Nature positive is an approach that goes beyond nature conservation to transform climate action, resource circulation, industry, consumption, and community development so that they contribute to biodiversity conservation. An interim assessment by 12 relevant ministries and agencies covered implementation through June 2025 and found progress in many action targets, while progress in state targets remained below half.

The assessment found partial improvement in socioeconomic conditions, but concluded that Japan’s biodiversity continued to decline overall and that ecosystem services had not recovered. It also indicated that the effects of actions take time to emerge and that the scale of action may be insufficient, making the continuation and acceleration of efforts through collaboration among government, business, academia, and civil society a challenge.

Companies are expected to integrate into management the analysis and disclosure of nature-related risks and opportunities, sustainable procurement, and investment in nature conservation. The number of domestic TNFD adopters was reported as 219 companies as of March 2026, and corporate activities are also connected to solving regional challenges and promoting regional revitalization.

Local governments and regions are taking on broader roles, including developing regional strategies; managing natural symbiosis sites and enhancement activities; conserving national parks, forests, rivers, wetlands, and urban green spaces; and advancing disaster prevention and nature restoration together. Participation by residents and companies is expected to connect conservation activities with regional economies, education, tourism, and exchange.

In policy management, it will be important to continuously measure not only the volume of actions but also the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to revise measures based on data. Given the continuing loss of the natural environment, cross-sector collaboration, expanded action at scale, and stronger indicators and research are considered necessary.

Institutionally, the Regional Biodiversity Enhancement Act took effect in April 2025, introducing basic policies by the competent ministers, certification of activity plans, one-stop procedures, and regulatory exceptions. Under the policy of designating at least 30% of terrestrial and marine areas as protected areas and OECMs by 2030 toward the 30by30 target, natural symbiosis sites were certified, and plan certification under the Act began in April 2025. The Biodiversity Visualization System was piloted in April 2025 and fully launched in September of the same year, enabling users to display and search protected areas, area shares by local government, species inventories, and natural symbiosis sites.

For companies, the Nature-Positive Economy Transition Strategy Roadmap was compiled in July 2025, and initiatives included examples of increasing corporate value, materials for analyzing nature-related risks and opportunities, model projects, business matching, and support for information disclosure. On the consumption side, efforts advanced environmental certification, sustainable procurement information, and visualization of the environmental impacts and biodiversity of agricultural products. The amended Clean Wood Act took effect in April 2025, strengthening measures such as verification of timber legality.

In national parks, efforts advanced through step-up programs in 13 parks, high-value stay tourism, user fees, nature experiences, facility development, multilingual services, and universal design. As of March 2026, there were 20 examples of entrance fees, 119 examples of other user charges, and 153 national park official partners consisting of companies and organizations. Ecosystem networks, nature restoration, environmental education, and sustainable use also advanced in forests, farmland, waterways, rivers, wetlands, coasts, seaweed beds, and tidal flats.

For endangered species, as of March 2026, 458 nationally rare wild fauna and flora species and 829 internationally rare wild fauna and flora species had been designated, and 58 conservation breeding program plans had been developed for 79 species. For invasive species, 162 specified invasive alien species were regulated, and the red imported fire ant was confirmed in 36 cases during fiscal 2025. Wildlife management measures included capturing Japanese sika deer and other animals, bear countermeasures, infectious disease surveillance, and barriers to prevent incursions. The emergency shooting system began operating in September 2025.

For sustainable use, efforts based on the Midori Food System Strategy promoted certification systems for reducing environmental burdens, organic farming, GAP, and decarbonization in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. As of the end of March 2026, plans had been certified for more than 36,000 producers, and environmental-burden reduction requirements for subsidy programs and other measures will be fully implemented from fiscal 2027. International cooperation advanced through the seventh national report under the Convention on Biological Diversity, 30by30 support, the SATOYAMA Initiative, and the BBNJ Agreement.

Foundational infrastructure efforts included the National Survey for the Conservation of the Natural Environment, Monitoring Sites 1000, the collection and publication of biodiversity data, radiation-impact surveys, and the JBO4 interim recommendations. The JBO4 interim recommendations were published in October 2025, assessed conditions using more than 300 indicators with 2020 as the baseline year, and identified the need to develop indicators and enrich data.