Prevent, Protect, Restore: Using the Global Biodiversity Framework to Guide Veterinary Education

Biodiversity loss is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, threatening ecosystem function, animal health, and public well-being. As advocates for animal and environmental health, veterinary professionals play a critical role in addressing this crisis, yet biodiversity remains largely absent from core veterinary curricula. Aligned with the action-oriented goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, this paper proposes a veterinary-specific framework for developing biodiversity education in veterinary training. Developed with input from subject matter experts in veterinary and ecological sciences, the framework includes three primary actions: Prevent, Protect, and Restore, using Stewardship as the mechanism of action. This framework adapts Global Biodiversity Framework targets to veterinary-relevant content and competencies, and provides examples to illustrate relevance. By recognizing biodiversity as a health issue, veterinary educators can help students understand its relevance to clinical practice, public health, and policy. Ultimately, this training could enable students to incorporate actions to sustain and restore biodiversity into their own professional practices, as well as enhance veterinary contributions to addressing this global crisis.