Montreal, 10 April 2014 – In
preparation of a major international biodiversity conference in October 2014, Parties
to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are currently submitting their
fifth national reports that will enable a global assessment of progress made
towards the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets agreed by the global community in
2010 as part of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
“The information in the fifth national reports will be
vital in charting work under the Convention from now until 2020,” said Braulio
Ferreira de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary. “I am grateful to those countries
that have already submitted their reports and I look forward to receiving fifth
national reports from all Parties as soon as possible.”
To date, 40 countries have submitted their fifth national
reports: Belarus, Belgium, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo,
Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Germany, India, Iraq, Japan,
Kuwait, Malaysia, Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Myanmar, Namibia,
Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Poland, Rwanda, Senegal,
Solomon Islands, Somalia, South
Africa, Spain, Sudan and Uganda. Another 26 have shared
advanced drafts of their reports.
The fifth national reports provide an opportunity for
Parties to report internationally on progress made domestically on biodiversity
commitments since the landmark tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
(COP 10) in 2010. Submitting a national report at agreed intervals is an
obligation that needs to be fulfilled by all 193 Parties.
A focus of the fifth national reports is on the
attainment of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and associated national targets.
These include targets under each of five goals of the Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity, namely to address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by
mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society, reduce the direct
pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use, improve the status of
biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity, enhance
the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystem services, and, enhance
implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and
capacity building.
Through these reports, countries document the steps they
are taking to attain the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. For example, South Africa,
the first country to submit its fifth national report, has developed a partnership
to foster better collaboration and coordination of ecological infrastructure
investments aimed at improving water security in the greater Umgeni catchment,
an important source of water for Durban. Japan has developed the “My
Declaration” programme which provides people with a set of actions to take for
biodiversity and encourages them to declare which actions they intend to take,
and Denmark has reintroduced the European Bison to help restore ecosystem
dynamics.
National reports also provide a key source of information
for the preparation of the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook
(GBO-4), the CBD’s major periodic assessment of the state of biodiversity, trends
and options. The GBO-4 will contribute to assess overall progress towards the
Aichi Biodiversity Targets and form an important communications tool during the
2011-2020 United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. The GBO-4, as well as the
fifth national reports, will be considered during COP 12 that will be held in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea in
October 2014. At COP 12 countries are expected to take stock of progress made
and, among other things, prepare a road map on the way forward for the remaining
implementation period of the Strategic Plan.
Adopted in 2010, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
2011-2020 represents a shared global vision for biodiversity and comprises a
mission, strategic goals and 20 ambitious yet achievable targets, collectively known
as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. It provides an overarching framework for
action by all countries and stakeholders to safeguard biodiversity and enhance
its benefits for people.
Final versions of the fifth national reports are
available at: www.cbd.int/reports/nr5/
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