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By Hiroshi Nagai*
TOKYO (IDN) - "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," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary
of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
He was commenting the tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity (COP-10) that concluded October 29 in Nagoya,
Japan.
"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," he added.
"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," COP-10 president Ryu
Matsumoto, the Environment Minister of Japan, explained.
These upbeat assessments sought to highlight that COP-10 achieved 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 CBD; a resource mobilization
strategy that provides the way forward to a substantial increase to
current levels of official development assistance (ODA) 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 -- also
known as the 'Aichi Target', named after the Aichi Prefecture of Japan
in which Nagoya is located -- 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.
As part of these targets, COP-10 agreed to at least halve and where
feasible bring close to zero the rate of loss of natural habitats
including forests. It also established a target of 17 per cent of
terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of marine and coastal
areas.
It was agreed that Governments will restore at least 15 percent of
degraded areas through conservation and restoration, and will make
special efforts to reduce the pressures faced by coral reefs. The COP-10
parties further pledged 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 also for the entire
United Nations system, CBD stated in a media release. This overarching
international framework is to be translated into national biodiversity
strategy and action plans within two years.
Actions in support will also take place at sub-national and local levels.
The conference 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 back the
implementation of the new Strategic Plan.
The importance of acting to conserve biodiversity also received support
from the donor community. Representatives of 34 bilateral and
multilateral donor agencies agreed to translate the plan into their
respective development cooperation priorities.
A highlight of Nagoya gathering was 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. Conference sources consider
this as "an important instrument at the service of the new vision".
The conference also announced funding in support of implementation of
the Convention of Biological Diversity. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan
announced a USD 2 billion fund, the Environment Minister Matsumoto
announced the establishment of a Japan Biodiversity Fund. Additional
financial resources were announced by France, the European Union and
Norway. Some USD 110 million were mobilized in support of projects under
the CBD Life Web Initiative aimed at enhancing the protected-area
agenda.
Besides, 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 in India, the targets and mechanisms through which
financial resources can be identified, unleashed and channeled, CBD
said.
Yet another highlight of CO-10 was that the participants adopted the
Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and
Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization. According
to CBD, this "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, amounting to USD 1
million.
While some 18,000 participants representing 193 Parties to the CBD
joined the non-ministerial part of the conference, 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
Presidents of Gabon and Guinea-Bissau, the Prime Minister of Yemen
representing the Group of 77 and China, as well as Prince Albert of
Monaco.
The significance of better integrating the biodiversity agenda with that
of climate change and land degradation was covered in the dynamic
programme of events and activities in which heads of agencies and
international organizations discussed the ways that all three agendas
could be implemented in support of sustainable development.
*This article was written in Japanese, and adapted into English by Katsuhiro Asagiri. (IDN-InDepthNews/31.10.2010)
