Thursday, September 15, 2011

Cities and the United Nations pulling together for biodiversity: Global partnership meets in Bonn

Montreal, 15 September 2011— At an international strategic meeting, held in the Old Town Hall, Bonn, on 5-6 September 2011, Bonn Mayor Jürgen Nimptsch and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf invited the members of the Global Partnership on Local and Sub-National Action for Biodiversity to work on an implementation plan for cities to support decision X/22 of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, which defined a strategy for its 193 members to implement its decisions at local and sub-national levels. A roadmap of events, projects and activities was also determined towards the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties, to be held in Hyderabad, India, in October 2012. Similar implementation plans will be developed for sub-national governments, the scientific community and international organizations.

The 2008 United Nations biodiversity conference in Bonn recognized, for the first time, the important role cities play in the protection and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. The Bonn Call for Action, adopted during an international mayors’ conference held parallel to the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, was brought to the high-level segment of the meeting by four mayors from four continents. This led to the foundation of a Global Partnership for Cities and Biodiversity, under which cities and the city network ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability have sought cooperation with regions, with United Nations organizations (including UN-HABITAT, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and with scientific networks such as URBIO and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In 2010, Parties to the Convention met in Nagoya, Japan, and adopted a Plan of Action for cities and sub-national levels of government. This opened up new and suitable options for cities to contribute towards the protection and sustainable use of life on Earth. A first meeting on the implementation of the Plan of Action was held January 2011 in Montpellier, France.

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