Preparing the World Summit on Biological Diversity
High-ranking government representatives and nature conservation experts from Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and the European Commission met today in Berlin to finalise the Biodiversity Agenda for the Triple Presidency, which is due to start in January 2007. This was the third and final preparatory meeting at the level of the Nature Directors. The Agenda that has now been agreed is also important for the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-9) (World Summit on Biological Diversity), which will take place in Bonn in 2008.
The guiding principle of the Agenda is the 2010 biodiversity target endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, namely to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global level. In the Agenda, the three countries underscore the EU's major responsibility in preparing and implementing concrete, practicable regulations and measures for achieving the 2010 target at European and global levels. With the stated common goal of providing major impetus for international nature conservation, the Triple Presidency will focus on making progress with key topics such as forest conservation and the development of a global network of protected areas at sea and on land. Other priorities are improving access to genetic resources and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of these resources, developing innovative financing instruments for the protection of biodiversity worldwide, and creating new models for building partnerships between biodiversity and business.
The ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-9) will take place in Bonn from 19-30 May 2008. Around 5000 delegates are expected to attend. The CBD, like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, is one of the three Rio Conventions. Germany was among the first countries to sign the CBD. The CBD addresses all aspects of the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity at the three levels: genetic resources, species, and ecosystems/natural habitats. It has also become a major platform for debate about the relationship between the world trade regime and the multilateral environmental conventions, as well as a focal point for indigenous rights.