Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) is the flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is a periodic report that summarizes the latest data on the status and trends of biodiversity and draws conclusions relevant to the further implementation of the Convention. The reports are based on different types on information including national reports, scientific literature, information from the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and supplementary studies. While the main target audience for the report is policy makers, it is written to be accessible to a range of audiences including the general public.

Four editions of the Outlook have been published. The fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-4) provides a mid term assessment towards the progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. As with the third edition of the report, GBO-4 will is supported by a variety of ancillary products which will provide more detailed information and/or be targeted to specific audiences. These materials will be made available on the GBO-4 website as they become available.

GBO- 4 will be an important communication tool during the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity and will consist of several reports, the first of which were released in 2014 to enable the Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 12) to assess progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan.

The preparation of GBO-4 has been overseen by the SBSTTA Bureau and a draft of the report was made available to the eighteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice. Further an advisory group for the report was established to provide relevant technical guidance. Prior to the finalization of the GBO-4 the report was made available for a public peer review. Further the technical background documents on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets which underpin the report were also maid available for two rounds of peer review.