United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity: Nagoya Biodiversity Conference COP10
Geschreven op 11-10-2010 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Agenda, Natuur
The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) will be held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, from 18 to 29 October 2010.
COP 10 will include a high-level ministerial segment organized by the host country in consultation with the Secretariat and the Bureau. The high level segment will take place from 27 to 29 October 2010.
This meeting will take place during the International Year for Biodiversity (IYB) as declared by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 61/203. During the course of the year events will occur in every region of the world to raise public awareness of the importance of biological diversity to human well-being. Strategic Issues for Evaluating Progress and Supporting Implementation of the Convention will be considered. It is anticipated that the negotiations on an International Regime on Access and Benefit-sharing will result in the adoption of an instrument on Access and Benefit-Sharing.
Message from MISIA — Honorary Ambassador for the tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be held from 18 to 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
2010: UN International Year of Biodiversity – Biodiversity We are all in This Together – EEA Signals 2010: Biodiversity, Climate Change and You – Back Biodiversity 100: Save our Wildlife – EEA Signals 2010: Biodiversity, Climate Change and You – Back Biodiversity 100: Save our Wildlife – The Rio Conventions’ Ecosystems and Climate Change Pavilion debuts the COP10 Aichi Nagoya Biodiversity Summit – The Aichi Nagoya Summit on Biodiversity: a new Biodiversity Strategy for the twenty-first century – TEEB Report puts economic value of nature on the global political radar – Interactive ProtectedPlanet Uses ‘Citizen Science’ to Discover 150,000 Spectacular Nature Sites – Spain-UNEP Partnership for Protected Areas in support of LifeWeb –WWF’s 2010 Living Planet Report: Not Another Nature Film – Gisele Bündchen: International Year of Biodiversity – IUCN Red List: Nature’s Backbone at Risk – SOS-SOS-SOS: Save Our Species – Save Our Selves – Save OurSelves Species
Erik van Erne zegt:
18 oktober 2010 om 18:52 | Permalink
Message from Ambassador Melanne Verveer
ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review 2010 – Harnessing the gender dimensions of biodiversity, sustainable land management and climate change to achieve environment protection and sustainable development .
Erik van Erne zegt:
18 oktober 2010 om 18:55 | Permalink
The Rio Conventions’ Ecosystems and Climate Change Pavilion debuts the COP10 Aichi Nagoya Biodiversity Summit
Nagoya, Japan, 18 October 2010: As the challenges—and solutions—to climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation and the degradation of the world’s drylands, are interlinked and cannot be addressed in a compartmentalized approach. To this end the three United Nations conventions born at the Rio Summit and the Global Environment Facility have teamed up with 15 partners including Governments, international organizations and civil society organizations to develop a platform to raise public awareness and share information at their respective conferences of the Parties in the lead up to the Rio+20 Summit .
The Pavilion will be virtually featured at the Cancun Climate Conference that begins at the end of November, at the Desertification Conference next year in Changwon, Republic of Korea, at the Johannesburg Climate Conference, as well as at the Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20) in 2012. An ecosystem-based approach recognizes that nature provides for free many of the necessities for life, such as clean air, fresh water, and a wide array of species that serve as food for people. Disruption of these essential ecosystems, however, threatens the services that nature provides at little or no cost.
The savings from a coordinated ecosystems approach to climate change, biodiversity loss, avoiding deforestation and land degradation are incalculable, says Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary. ?Protecting rainforests, he said, ?not only protects the species that live in the rainforest, but it also helps absorb the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving climate change. The Pavilion will help us see these linkages clearer and hopefully, will convince the Parties to promote joint activities at national level.
There is no doubt that with rising temperatures and associated impacts, there will be a greater likelihood of irreversible changes in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, with serious implications for the provision of key ecosystem services. It is therefore essential to take swift global action on climate change and to mobilize actors who are instrumental in this endeavor, not least the other two Rio conventions—the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, said UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres.
Climate change and biodiversity loss are major drivers of the degradation of the world’s drylands, which in turn drives biodiversity loss and exacerbates climate change, said Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. We must address these three challenges in a coherent and comprehensive manner if we are to address the plight of the people and ecosystems most vulnerable to their effects, he added, noting that the drylands are home to almost a third of the world’s population, and almost one billion of these are world’s poorest people.
During the course of the two-week Conference in Nagoya, the Pavilion will feature exhibits and panel discussions on topics that include the links between forest biodiversity and adaptation and mitigation; indigenous peoples and communities, water, the role of protected areas, the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity, climate change biodiversity loss, desertification and land degradation, and financing. Source: CBD
Erik van Erne zegt:
18 oktober 2010 om 19:36 | Permalink
The Aichi Nagoya Summit on Biodiversity: a new Biodiversity Strategy for the twenty-first century
With land and marine ecosystems around the world under intense pressure from human activities, negotiators from around the world meet in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, to shape and agree on a global strategy and instruments to protect biodiversity that would make the value of biodiversity central all human initiatives and development.
The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, hosted by the Government of Japan takes place from 18 to 29 October 2010.
Over 15,000 participants representing the 193 Parties and their partners, the highest number ever recorded for such a meeting, will meet to finalize the negotiation on a new Strategic Plan on biodiversity for the period 2011-2020 with a biodiversity vision for 2050. The adoption of a new protocol on access and benefit sharing will be a key instrument at the service of this new biodiversity vision. The agreement will be submitted to the high-level segment of the Conference, to be held with the participation of five Heads of State and 130 ministers of the environment.
“In launching the International Year of Biodiversity the United Nations Secretary General stated earlier this year, that business as usual is no longer an option,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. “The time to act is now and the place to act is here at the Aichi-Nagoya Biodiversity Summit.” Japanese Environment Minister Ryo Matsumoto, the President of the meeting said, “It is my greatest honour to host the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties during the International Year of Biodiversity. A number of important issues, including a new global biodiversity target and access and benefit-sharing will be discussed at the meeting. Japan will do its utmost as the President of the Conference of the Parties in order to pass on „only one Earth? to future generations.”
The Nagoya meeting will be the place where stakeholders from all over the world will meet to discuss the ways they will work to meet the biodiversity challenges of the future. Among the important activities: A Business and Biodiversity Initiative will be considered at a high level dialogue between chief executive officers of companies and ministers at the margins of Messe Nagoya. More than 500 companies from 13 countries are expected.
On 26 October, a ministerial meeting will be convened at the initiative of Japan to prepare the Cancun Climate Conference on issues related to sustainable forest management, climate change and biodiversity. 200 mayors from around the world will assemble at the “City and Biodiversity Initiative” to adopt a plan of on action on cities and biodiversity together with An Urban Biodiversity Index. A summit on parliamentarians and biodiversity will be convened in partnership with the Globe International (Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment.)
At the high-level segment of the meeting, which will begin on 27 October, ministers will have before them the summary of high-level meeting on biodiversity held in New York on 22 September 2010, written by the President of the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Participants to the high-level segment will also have also before them the Geneva Call for Urgent Action on Biodiversity adopted by the 11 ministers of the environment that have hosted or will host a Conference of the Parties. This group, called the Biodiversity-11 Group have decided to meet an annual basis to provide leadership for the implementation of the new biodiversity strategy. Source: CBD
Erik van Erne zegt:
21 oktober 2010 om 17:04 | Permalink
COP10 Nagoya 2010: TEEB Report puts economic value of nature on the global political radar
The economic importance of the world’s natural assets is now firmly on the political radar as a result of an international assessment showcasing the enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, as well as the social and economic costs of their loss, was the conclusion of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report launched today by TEEB study leader, Pavan Sukhdev.
“TEEB has documented not only the multi-trillion dollar importance to the global economy of the natural world, but the kinds of policy-shifts and smart market mechanisms that can embed fresh thinking in a world beset by a rising raft of multiple challenges. The good news is that many communities and countries are already seeing the potential of incorporating the value of nature into decision-making,” said Mr. Sukhdev, a banker who heads up the Green Economy Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). He was speaking at the launch of the two-year study, which has involved hundreds of experts from around the world, at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 10th Conference of Parties meeting (CBD COP10) in Nagoya.
The TEEB study calls for wider recognition of nature’s contribution to human livelihoods, health, security, and culture by decision-makers at all levels (local to national and business to citizens). It promotes the demonstration, and where appropriate, the capture of the economic values of nature’s services through an array of policy instruments and mechanisms. Countries such as India have already announced plans for implementing the economic valuation of their natural capital as well as the value of nature’s services in decision-making.
“TEEB’s approach can reset the economic compass and herald a new era in which the value of nature’s services is made visible and becomes an explicit part of policy and business decision-making. Do nothing, and not only do we lose trillions worth of current and future benefits to society, we also further impoverish the poor and put future generations at risk,” said Mr. Sukhdev. “The time for ignoring biodiversity and persisting with conventional thinking regarding wealth creation and development is over. We must get on to the path towards a green economy,” he added.
Nature is crucial to prosperity and development. In TEEB’s final report, “Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature”, there are three scenarios: a natural ecosystem (forests), a human settlement (city), and a business sector (mining), to illustrate how the economic concepts and tools described in TEEB can help equip society with the means to incorporate the values of nature into decision-making at all levels.
With more than half of the human population now living in urban areas, cities have a crucial role to play in acknowledging the natural capital required to maintain and improve the well-being of their residents. Innovative economic instruments and policies are emerging that reward good practice. For example, the Japanese city of Nagoya (host to the COP-10 meeting), has implemented a new system of tradeable development rights whereby developers wishing to exceed existing limits on high-rise buildings can offset their impacts by buying and conserving areas of Japan’s traditional agricultural landscape. Discounts on bank loans for buildings that receive a higher ‘star rating’ based on a green certification system designed by city authorities also create incentives for more green space within city projects.
An important finding of many studies reviewed by TEEB is the contribution of forests and other ecosystems to the livelihoods of poor rural households, and therefore the significant potential for conservation efforts to contribute to poverty reduction. It has been estimated that ecosystem services and other non-marketed natural goods account for 47 to 89 per cent of the so-called ‘GDP of the Poor’ (i.e. the effective GDP or total sources of livelihoods of rural and forest-dwelling poor households) in some large developing countries.
“In the past only traditional sectors such as manufacturing, mining, retailing, construction and energy generation were uppermost in the minds of economic planners and ministers of finance, development and trade. TEEB has brought to the world’s attention that nature’s goods and services are equal, if not far more central, to the wealth of nations including the poor-a fact that will be increasingly the case on a planet of finite resources with a population set to rise to nine billion people by 2050,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director.
Failure to account for the value of natural capital poses significant business and social risks. The report also drives home the message that failure of business to account for the value of natural capital, particularly in sectors such as mining, can pose significant business and social risks. The UK-based consultancy, TruCost, estimated that the negative impacts, or ‘environmental externalities’, of the world’s top 3,000 listed companies totals around US$ 2.2 trillion annually.
Approaches such as Net Positive Impact, wetland mitigation and bio-banking can help ensure that developers take responsibility for their environmental footprint. As consumers and governments opt for greener purchasing choices the business sector also stands to make considerable gains: by 2020 the annual market size for certified agricultural products is expected to be US$210 billion; payments for water related ecosystem services US$6 billion; and voluntary biodiversity offsets in the region of US$100 million a year. Source: UNEP
Erik van Erne zegt:
22 oktober 2010 om 03:34 | Permalink
India highlights split at COP10 Nagoya biodiversity meeting
Sharp divisions between developing and developed countries will come to the fore, putting them at “loggerheads”, next week at the world’s biggest international conference on biodiversity, in Nagoya, Japan, according to India’s environment and forests minister, Jairam Ramesh.
The divisions are over access to local biological resources and sharing the benefits of such access with local communities, he told a press conference today, called to highlight India’s position ahead of the 10th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP-10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity next week (18–29 October).
Governments from around the world are gathering in Nagoya to make three key decisions on safeguarding the world’s natural riches.
First, they are hoping to agree on a ten-year strategy on how people interact with biodiversity, which scientists say is key to preventing tipping points, such as the collapse of fisheries, disappearance of the Amazonian rainforest and extinctions caused by invasive species.
They also need to agree on the money required to enact this strategy and, thirdly, they hope to produce a set of international rules about access to the biological resources which would ensure countries and communities get a fair share of any benefits that arise from their use.
But Ramesh said that five issues have emerged as “sticking points” on the third decision. He highlighted divisions relating to access to microbes that cause disease (pathogens). Read more at SciDev
Erik van Erne zegt:
22 oktober 2010 om 05:43 | Permalink
COP10 Nagoya 2010: Spotlight on world’s ‘Forgotten Fisheries’
The vital role of inland fisheries in the diet, incomes and livelihoods of people in developing countries is the focus of a new report launched today. While marine fisheries are under increasing scrutiny, those based on river and lake systems are often overlooked. Globally, rivers and lakes provide at least 13 million tons of fish annually and generate 60 million jobs. In Asia, for example, the fish catch of Lower Mekong Basin alone is worth up to US$7.6 billion on retail markets. The joint report by UNEP and the World Fish Center warns that pollution, loss of habitat, urbanization and the impact of dams on water flows are now challenging the viability of future fish stocks – with serious consequences for livelihoods, health and biodiversity in the developing world. The report urges countries to adopt an ‘ecosystem approach’ to managing these rich inland resources: from curbing pollution and destructive fishing practices to sustaining river flows and restoring habitats. Source: UNEP
Erik van Erne zegt:
24 oktober 2010 om 20:19 | Permalink
Deadlock in UN biodiversity talks in Nagoya
UN talks aimed at brokering a deal to protect the world’s diminishing natural resources have made little progress, green groups said ahead of the summit’s crucial second phase starting Monday.
The 12 days of negotiations in the central Japanese city of Nagoya are aimed at securing agreement on how to stop the rapid loss of the world’s plant and animal species, as well as their habitats.
But after the first week environment groups said the conference was becoming bogged down in the same kind of acrimony between developed and developing nations that have plagued UN climate change negotiations.
“What we need to see is a global alliance to protect life on earth but what we have seen so far are alarming divisions and a hardening of positions,” WWF international director general Jim Leape said.
In a best-case scenario, the negotiations would wrap up on Friday with a set of agreed targets for slowing the dramatic rate of biodiversity loss by 2020.
There would also be a deal on how developed countries would provide poor ones with funding to protect the world’s natural habitats, plus an agreement on how to equitably share genetic resources.
However, the WWF and other environment groups monitoring the event said rich and poor nations were at loggerheads over many aspects of the potential agreement. Read more at Channel News Asia
Erik van Erne zegt:
25 oktober 2010 om 23:53 | Permalink
Costa Rica winner of the 2010 Future Policy award at the global summit on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan
The Central American country aims to be the first developing nation to meet UN biodiversity commitments. The prize, issued by the World Future Council, was given in recognition of the country’s 1998 biodiversity law, which was held up as a model for other nations to follow.
Costa Rica channels funds from a fuel tax, car stamp duty and energy fees to pay for nature reserve management and environmental services like clean air, fresh water and biodiversity protection. Landowners are paid to preserve old-growth forests and to plant new trees. As a result, forest cover has risen from 24% in 1985 to close to 46% today. It has also established a national commission on biodiversity, comprising scientists, civil servants and indigenous representatives, which proposes policies to the government and promotes green education among the public.
Partly as a result, Costa Rica ranks third in the global Environmental Performance index and first in the Happy Planet Index. Source: the Guardian
Erik van Erne zegt:
26 oktober 2010 om 10:38 | Permalink
Japanese Government Lagging at UN COP10 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit
Today, the Greenpeace delegation at the CBD summarized what has been happening here in Nagoya and reiterated our demands for a global network of marine reserves and for progress during the ministerial section of the summit, which begins tomorrow.
I briefed the journalists on the Japanese government’s role, as chair of this enormous meeting, and how biodiversity conservation is a huge challenge for them at the moment. Just recently, the Japanese Ministry of Environment announced that they will make a list of endangered marine species, a step forward, yes, but not yet action to save said endangered speicies.
Unfortunately, the government of Japan views our oceans and the life contained in them as resources meant to be exploited rather than a necessary provider of food and life that must be protected for the future. The Japanese market is where 80 percent of the world’s bluefin tuna is consumed, much of it coming from distant places such as the Mediterranean. Read more at Greenpeace
Erik van Erne zegt:
27 oktober 2010 om 17:08 | Permalink
More than 15 national parks and marine reserves are receiving a US$6.7 million conservation boost thanks to a new partnership between UNEP and the government of Spain. Beneficiaries include a protected area that manages monk seals off Mauritania and a national park in Sumatra that is home to orangutans, tigers and elephants. The partnership will also support the creation of new conservation sites, such as a protected area networks for sea turtles off West Africa, which can generate new income streams for local people. A recent UNEP Green Economy study showed that the expansion of Costa Rica’s protected area cover resulted in higher wages and more employment.
The Spain-UNEP LifeWeb partnership is further evidence of the emerging role of protected areas in conserving biodiversity and tackling poverty. Source: UNEP
Erik van Erne zegt:
27 oktober 2010 om 17:42 | Permalink
UN Biodiversity Summit COP10 Nagoya 2010: Global action needed to conserve Arctic biodiversity
The Arctic is experiencing some of the most rapid environmental changes on the planet. Whilst this presents enormous challenges for conserving biodiversity, it also offers opportunities for enhancing cooperation between nations and reforming environmental governance to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Arctic contribution to global biodiversity is significant. Hundreds of migrating species (including 279 species of birds and the grey and humpback whales) travel long distances each year in order to take advantage of productive Arctic summers. However, evidence of warming in the Arctic is mounting year on year – with serious consequences for biodiversity. This year is no exception. One well-publicised impact of warming is the loss of habitat for species dependent on sea ice, such as polar bears. But this is only one change. Across the Arctic, many habitats that are considered critical for biodiversity, such as the tundra, have been disappearing over the last few decades.
Launched to coincide with the 10th Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, the report, entitled Protecting Arctic Biodiversity: Strengths and limitations of environmental agreements, was researched by UNEP’s Polar Centre GRID-Arendal in Norway. The report underlines that although tried and tested solutions to the current biodiversity crisis in the Arctic exist in the region itself, important conservation gains will only be won if root causes originating outside the Arctic region are addressed. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: “We are currently witnessing unprecedented change in the Arctic, which will have important and far-reaching consequences not only for the region itself, but for the rest of the world.” Source: UNEP
Erik van Erne zegt:
27 oktober 2010 om 20:25 | Permalink
Japan offers hope to biodiversity summit with $2bn conservation fund
Hopes for a new global deal to conserve life on earth received a much-needed boost today with the announcement of $2bn (£1.2bn) in funds from Japan and signs that negotiators are narrowing their differences at the United Nations conference on biodiversity in Nagoya.
Delegates said 15 of the 20 conservation targets in a draft strategic plan to ease the loss of habitat and species have been agreed, up from eight just 24 hours before. The moves mark a considerable acceleration after the grindingly slow progress of the past 10 days.
Britain added to the momentum by earmarking £100m for forest protection, but delegates tempered their optimism with warnings that the biggest political hurdles have yet to be crossed and there are only two full days left until the end of the meeting.
Environment ministers from 193 countries have gathered in Nagoya to draw up a protocol that will have three main strands: a strategic plan for global conservation, an arrangement for funding and monitoring, and a system for regulating and sharing the benefits of genetic resources.
Finance – a major stumbling block until now – was said to have nudged slightly closer to a resolution today amid growing signs of flexibility. The host nation pledged $2bn over three years to developing countries for the management of ecosystem management and sustainable resource use. This headline figure represented an almost tenfold increase on its previous biodiversity outlays, but it was unclear how much of this was fresh money and how much diverted from other areas of the aid budget. Source: the Guardian
Erik van Erne zegt:
28 oktober 2010 om 11:28 | Permalink
The most comprehensive assessment of the world’s vertebrates confirms an extinction crisis with one-fifth of species threatened. However, the situation would be worse were it not for current global conservation efforts,according to a study launched today at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD, in Nagoya, Japan.
The study, to be published in the international journal Science, used data for 25,000 species from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, to investigate the status of the world’s vertebrates (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes) and how this status has changed over time. The results show that, on average, 50 species of mammal, bird and amphibian move closer to extinction each year due to the impacts of agricultural expansion, logging, over-exploitation, and invasive alien species.
“The ‘backbone’ of biodiversity is being eroded,” said the great American ecologist and writer Professor Edward O. Wilson, at Harvard University. “One small step up the Red List is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place.” Read more at IUCN Red List
De IUCN Rode Lijst 2010: Heel veel Slecht Nieuws en een Beetje Goed Nieuws
Erik van Erne zegt:
28 oktober 2010 om 22:42 | Permalink
World Bank Pushes to Include Ecology in Accounting by Andrew C. Revkin New York Times
This is certainly a novel, and hopeful, development. At the 10th conference of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Nagoya, Japan, Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, called for the planet’s biological patrimony, its “natural capital,” to be included on nations’ books when they do their accounting. Here’s a highlight:
The natural wealth of nations should be a capital asset valued in combination with its financial capital, manufactured capital and human capital…. National accounts need to reflect the vital carbon storage services that forests provide and the coastal protection values that come from coral reefs and mangroves.
I’ll believe it when I see it, given the bank’s incredibly slow shift within its own practices toward lending with the environment in mind. But this is one of several recent moves by the bank, including luring a topnotch energy analyst, Daniel Kammen, from the University of California, Berkeley, that could bode well for humans and the rest of the planet’s inhabitants.
Erik van Erne zegt:
30 oktober 2010 om 12:31 | Permalink
COP10 Nagoya Biodiversity Summit Ends Successfully: The Nagoya Protocol
The United Nation’s Nagoya Biodiversity Summit (COP10) that has started on 18th October with participation of its 193 parties of UN’s Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) concluded on Saturday 30th October successfully. The summit which was scheduled to end on Friday had extended until the early hours of the next day due to intense negotiations on some issues, but parties adopted historic decisions that will permit the community of nations to meet the unprecedented challenges of the continued loss of biodiversity.
Governments agreed on a package of measures that will ensure that the ecosystems of the planet will continue to sustain human well-being into the future. The meeting achieved its three inter-linked goals: adoption of a new ten year strategic plan to guide international and national efforts to save biodiversity through enhancing the objectives of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a resource mobilization strategy which provides the way forward to a substantial increase to current levels of official development assistance in support of biodiversity; and a new international protocol on access to and sharing of the benefits from the use of the genetic resources of the planet.
The Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity or the “Aichi Target,” adopted by the meeting includes 20 headline targets, organized under five strategic goals that address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and reduce the pressures on biodiversity. Inline with these global biodiversity targets, nations will have to make their own targets.
The meeting achieved its three inter-linked goals: adoption of a new ten year Strategic Plan to guide international and national efforts to save biodiversity through enhanced action to meet the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a resource mobilization strategy that provides the way forward to a substantial increase to current levels of official development assistance in support of biodiversity; and a new international protocol on access to and sharing of the benefits from the use of the genetic resources of the planet.
“History will recall that it was here in Nagoya that a new era of living in harmony was born and new global alliance to protect life on earth was established. History will also recall that this would not have been possible without the outstanding leadership and commitment of the government and people of Japan,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention. “If Kyoto entered history as the city where the climate accord was born, Nagoya will be remembered as the city where the biodiversity accord was born.” The President of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-10), the Minister of the Environment of Japan, Ryu Matsumoto, said, “The outcome of this meeting is the result of hard work, the willingness to compromise, and a concern for the future of our planet. With this strong outcome, we can begin the process of building a relationship of harmony with our world, into the future.”
The Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity or the “Aichi Target”, adopted by the meeting includes 20 headline targets, organized under five strategic goals that address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, reduce the pressures on biodiversity, safeguard biodiversity at all levels, enhance the benefits provided by biodiversity, and provide for capacity-building. Among the targets, it is important to note that Parties: Agreed to at least halve and where feasible bring close to zero the rate of loss of natural habitats including forests; Established a target of 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas; Through conservation and restoration, Governments will restore at least 15 percent of degraded areas; and will make special efforts to reduce the pressures faced by coral reefs.
Parties also agreed to a substantial increase in the level of financial resources in support of implementation of the Convention. The “Aichi Target” will be the overarching framework on biodiversity not only for the biodiversity-related conventions, but for the entire United Nations system. Parties agreed to translate this overarching international framework into national biodiversity strategy and action plans within two years. Actions in support will also take place at subnational and local levels. Parties endorsed a plan of action on cities and biodiversity adopted by the Nagoya Biodiversity City summit attended by more 200 mayors. 122 legislators from around the world attending the GLOBE meeting on parliamentarians and biodiversity agreed to support the implementation of the new Strategic Plan. The importance of acting to conserve biodiversity also received support by the donor community. Representatives of 34 bilateral and multilateral donor agencies agreed to translate the plan into their respective development cooperation priorities.
The Multi-Year Plan of Action on South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development adopted by the 131 members of the Group of 77 and China was welcomed as an important instrument at the service of the new vision. Finance in support of implementation of the Convention was announced. The Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Naoto Kan, announced 2 billion United States dollars in financing, the Minister of Environment of Japan announced the establishment of a Japan Biodiversity Fund. Additional financial resources were announced by France, the European Union and Norway. Some 110 million United States dollars were mobilized in support of projects under the CBD LifeWeb Initiative aimed at enhancing the protected-area agenda. Financial support for the Strategic Plan will be provided under the framework of the resource mobilization strategy. Parties will work to define in time for the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2012, the targets and mechanisms through which financial resources can be identified, unleashed and channelled.
Parties adopted the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization. The historic agreement creates a framework that balances access to genetic resources on the basis of prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms with the fair and equitable sharing of benefits while taking into account the important role of traditional knowledge. The Protocol also proposes the creation of a global multilateral mechanism that will operate in transboundary areas or situations where prior informed consent cannot be obtained. The Nagoya Protocol is expected to enter into force by 2012, with support from the Global Environment Facility of one million United States dollars to support early entry into force.
The high-level segment of the Nagoya Summit was held with the participation of 122 ministers and five Heads of State and Government, including the President of Gabon, the President of Guinea-Bissau, the Prime Minister of Yemen representing the Group of 77 and China, as well as Prince Albert of Monaco. The President of the sixty-fifth session of United Nations General Assembly, Mr Joseph Deiss presented the summary of the high-level meeting on biodiversity held during the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York on 22 September. The meeting was also attended by H.H. Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Mohammad Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia.
The COP10 summit is participated by 18,000 people and one of the main achievements in protecting biodiversity. The Sri Lankan delegates too had supported the new strategic plan. Next conference of parties of CBD – the COP11 will be held in India in 2012.
Erik van Erne zegt:
30 oktober 2010 om 12:51 | Permalink
Historic New Treaty Lays Out Ground Rules for Sharing Benefits of World’s Wealth of Genetic Resources and Strategic 10 Year-Plan with Targets and Timetables to Combat Loss of Planet’s Nature-Based Resources
After close to 20 years of discussion and debate, governments from across the globe today agreed to a new treaty to manage the world’s economically-central genetic resources in a far fairer and more systematic way. The approval, to establish an International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources (ABS), came on the last day of the convention on biological diversity meeting taking place in Nagoya, Japan.
The treaty, a Protocol to the main convention, lays down basic ground rules on how nations cooperate in obtaining genetic resources from animals to plants and fungi. It also outlines how the benefits, arising for example when a plant’s genetics are turned into a commercial product such as a pharmaceutical, are shared with the countries and communities who have conserved and managed that resource often for millennia.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) which administers the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), said: “This is a day to celebrate in terms of a new and innovative response to the alarming loss of biodiversity and ecosystems. And a day to celebrate in terms of opportunities for lives and livelihoods in terms of overcoming poverty and delivering sustainable development”. “It is also an important moment for the United Nations and the ability of countries to put aside the narrow differences that all too often divide in favour of the broader, shared issues that can unite peoples and nations. I would like to congratulate all governments concerned for bringing a fresh vision to the more intelligent management of life on Earth,” he added.
The new Nagoya Protocol on ABS lays out rules on how derivatives—substances and compounds derived from genetic resources- will be dealt with under an ABS regime. It also addresses the issue of traditional knowledge and pathogens—for example how developed countries may in emergency situations obtain a flu virus in order to develop a vaccine to counter a possible epidemic. The Protocol also says governments should begin considering ways of recompensing developing countries for genetic material that may have been collected years, decades even centuries ago- if in future they become used to produce say a new pharmaceutical or crop variety. One option may be to put a proportion of any profits arising into a special fund to be used by developing countries in order, for example, to build conservation or scientific capacity.
Governments also adopted a new strategic plan including targets for addressing biodiversity loss to be met by 2020. For example, governments agreed to increase the extent of land-based protected areas and national parks to 17 per cent of the Earth’s surface up from around 12.5 per cent now, and to extend marine protected areas to 10 per cent, up from under one per cent currently. Other elements of the extensive plan include, by 2020, lifting the extinction risk from known threatened species. The meeting agreed to study resource mobilization for assisting developing countries to meet the new targets in the plan based on a methodology that relates support to needs and gaps. Other decisions included taking a ‘precautionary approach’ in terms of emerging areas such as geo-engineering in order to combat climate change and the development of synthetic biofuels.
Mr. Steiner said the two-week meeting, building on 10 months of the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity, had also delivered a sea change in the global understanding of the multi-trillion dollar importance of biodiversity and forests, freshwaters and other ecosystems to the global economy and to national economies, and in particular for the “GDP of the poor”. The case has been built via The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), an initiative hosted by UNEP, requested by G8 environment ministers as well as developing country ones and supported by governments including Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom.
In Nagoya the final, global TEEB report was launched as countries including Brazil and India announced they would be launching their own national TEEB studies. A parallel and supporting partnership was also announced by the World Bank in collaboration with organizations including UNEP to ‘green’ national accounts in order to mainstream ‘natural capital’ within national economic and development plans. The project is initially set to be implemented in between six and 10 countries including Colombia and Mexico.
“Conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity need catalytic, strategic, serious and targeted investments from the public sector that reflects also the links between biodiversity and for example climate change. But ultimately the billions—if not hundreds of billions- required will only come when public policies and incentives are aligned with nature in a way that unleashes private sector investments”. “This perhaps is the ultimate litmus test with natural capital given equal standing with human and financial capital. Indeed history may show that this may be the real success and legacy of 2010 and of the Nagoya meeting,” he added. “Nagoya has certainly set new benchmarks upon which the nations of the world will be judged by their citizens. This time round these targets need to be an inspirational and drivers of fundamental change towards a sustainable, Green Economy for the many and not just the few,” said Mr. Steiner. “I would like to thank and congratulate Ryu Matsumoto, the Minister of Environment of Japan and his team, for their hospitality but above all their determination, leadership and skill in navigating nations to this positive and potentially transformational conclusion,” he added. Source: UNEP
Erik van Erne zegt:
4 januari 2011 om 05:57 | Permalink
Gisele Bündchen: Commitments in defense of Biodiversity