An Urgent Call to Integrate the Health Sector into the .

There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to stop biodiversity loss and secure the resilience of all life on Earth. In December 2022, Parties to the United Nations (UN) (CBD) will meet in Montreal, Canada, to finalize the language and terms of the (). The aims to address the shortcomings of the previous , by introducing a Theory of Change, that states that biodiversity protection will only be successful if unprecedented, transformative changes are implemented effectively by Parties to the CBD. In this policy perspective, we explore the implications of the Theory of Change chosen to underpin the , specifically that broad social transformation is an outcome that requires actors to be specified. We detail how the health sector is uniquely positioned to be an effective actor and ally in support of the implementation of the . Specifically, we highlight how the core competencies and financial and human resources available in the health sector (including unique knowledge, skill sets, experiences, and established trust) provide a compelling, yet mostly untapped opportunity to help create and sustain the enabling conditions necessary to achieve the goals and targets of the framework. While by no means a panacea for the world's biodiversity problems, we posit that explicitly omitting the health sector from the substantially weakens the global, collective effort to catalyze the transformative changes required to safeguard biodiversity.