Hyderabad, India 8 October 2012 - Representatives
from over 170 countries today began deliberations in Hyderabad, India, on the
way forward to protect the planet’s biodiversity.
The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known as COP 11 for short,
follows on the historic outcomes of the 2010 Nagoya biodiversity summit. In
Nagoya, governments adopted a new Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, and two new
supplementary protocols to the CBD, setting the course for halting biodiversity
loss by the end of the current decade.
Mr. Ryu Matsumoto, the former Minister of the Environment of
Japan, who served as COP 10 President in Nagoya, said at the opening:
"While the COP10 outcomes are remarkable achievements, there will be no
change unless they are implemented. At COP11, I trust that we can agree on
further measures to overcome challenges that require additional efforts."
At the meeting, the Government of India assumed the Presidency of
COP 11. During their term, which runs from 2012 until 2014, the government of
India will preside over the implementation of the work of the Convention,
including the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity
Targets.
Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of Environment and Forests,
Government of India and COP 11 President, said that: “The present global
economic crisis should not deter us, but on the contrary encourage us to invest
more towards amelioration of the natural capital for ensuring uninterrupted ecosystem
services, on which all life on Earth depends. Let us all be inspired by what
Mahatma Gandhi said: ‘The difference between what we do and what we are
capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems’. So
let us commit ourselves to what we are capable of doing.”
In his opening remarks, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, the
Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity said: “I urge you, in
Hyderabad, to mobilize the financial resources needed to enable developing
countries to achieve the Aichi Targets at national level. In so doing, we will
need to be creative and involve all partners.” “We need to … adopt new approaches and mechanisms, emphasizing the
leveraging of resources from existing sources through mainstreaming,
incorporating sustainability criteria in government procurement, reviewing and
adjusting of economic instruments, and further engaging the business sector,”
adding, “We will be judged by our acts, not our words.”
Ms. Amina Mohamed, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy
Executive Director of UNEP said: “our collective experience and the new
analysis through initiatives such as TEEB and others have illuminated that the
costs of inaction are far higher and will rise and that the losses the world—especially
the poor—are sustaining annually as a result of unsustainable management of the
natural world dwarf the investments.”
“Furthermore, the private sector has a responsibility and a role
to play too within the rules and regulations put in place by governments to
ensure equity for all sectors of society. I would be keen to explore with the
CBD Executive Secretary and his team, ever improving synergies between the
inclusive Green Economy work and the TEEB work and that of the treaty, in particular
at the national level” she said.
The meeting is mandated to consider, among others, the
mobilization of resources in support of the Global Strategy for Biodiversity
and its Aichi Targets, a report on the identification of ecologically and
biologically significant areas in marine ecosystems as well as a number of
other items related to the protection of biodiversity in marine ecosystems;
ecosystem restoration and the relationship between biodiversity and climate
change.
The meeting continues until 19 October 2012, with a high-level
segment featuring the participation of ministers and heads of State that runs
from 16 to 19 October 2012.
For more information:
Website for the meeting: www.cbd.int/cop11
Press sheets: www.cbd.int/cop11/media-info/
Documents for the meeting: www.cbd.int/cop11/doc/
Annotated agenda, with a draft timetable for the conference: www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/cop/cop-
11/official/cop-11-01-add1-rev1-en.doc
Schedule of press conferences: www.cbd.int/cop11/events/press-conferences/
Information about the CEPA fair: www.cbd.int/cepa/fair/
List of side events: www.cbd.int/cop11/side-events/?mtg=cop-11
High-level
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