On Monday 25 October Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen travelled to Nagoya, Japan, to attend the tenth Conference to the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A decision will have to be taken at the conference on measures against the continued destruction of nature and its resources. Minister Röttgen is confident that, in spite of opposing views, it will be possible to bring about decisions at Nagoya that will finally put an end to the loss in biological diversity and reverse the current trend.
Federal Environment Minister Röttgen commented: "Next to climate change, the loss in biological diversity is the second big challenge that the international community must solve. In view of the unabated rate at which this loss is progressing, we have to agree quickly on effective measures."
For the past week negotiations among representatives of the international community have been taking place under Japanese presidency at a conference in Nagoya. Key topics of the conference include the adoption of a protocol on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their utilization (ABS Protocol), the adoption of a new strategic plan for the CBD and financial issues. ABS stands for access and benefit-sharing and means that the access to the genetic resources of a country is securely regulated and that the countries from which these resources originate will receive an equitable share in the benefits arising from their use. One example of this is the development of drugs or breeding of varieties.
The Strategic Plan of the CBD lays down specific medium- and long-term goals and priorities of international biodiversity conservation. The present Strategic Plan aims to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Although progress was made in individual areas at regional, national and local level, the global 2010 target has not been achieved. For this reason, the international community will now have to decide in Nagoya which biodiversity targets are to be pursued between 2011 and 2020.
Lack of financing is one of the main reasons for the continued loss in biodiversity. This applies in particular to the developing countries of the south where the lion's share of global biodiversity is located and which do not have adequate funds to ensure biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. It will be a major challenge for the meeting in Nagoya to summon a credible readiness by the donor countries to improve the global funding for biodiversity conservation in spite of the tense financial situation of the parties.
Minister Röttgen underlined that Germany will fulfil its funding pledges. At the CBD conference in May 2008 in Bonn, Germany had pledged 500 million euros for the conservation of biological diversity until 2012 and the same amount annually from 2013 onwards.