It is an exciting time to work on biodiversity issues! Our next meeting will be at 641 Sladen on Saturday, August 27, 2011 (10 to noon). Hope to see you there! Please let us know if you are attending or skyping with us. Mike Leveille (Director)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Guard post for uncontacted Indians over-run by “drug traffickers”
Bad news for the uncontacted Indians who were filmed from the air earlier this year: the Brazilian guard post protecting their lands has been over-run by heavily-armed men, suspected to be drug-traffickers.
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Antigua and Barbuda becomes twenty-sixth signatory
Montreal, 10 August 2011 – Yesterday, Antigua and Barbuda became the twenty-sixth Party to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the first small island developing State, to sign the Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Welcoming the new signature by Antigua and Barbuda, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said: “Antigua and Barbuda has further demonstrated its commitment to contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity by supporting the international rules and procedures in the field of liability and redress relating to living modified organisms.”
H.E. John W. Ashe, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations, said: “As a signatory Antigua and Barbuda intends to cooperate with other signatory States to develop further international law regarding liability and compensation for adverse effects of environmental damage caused by activities within its jurisdiction or control. We therefore call on all Parties to the Cartagena Protocol to join us in signing and subsequently ratifying this Supplementary Protocol so that we can collectively contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, by providing international rules and procedures in the field of liability and redress relating to living modified organisms.”
The list of signatories to the Nagoya Protocol is available on the CBD website at:
www.cbd.int/abs/nagoya-protocol/signatories/; and the list of signatories to the Nagoya - Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol is available at: http://bch.cbd.int/protocol/parties/#tab=1
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Ninety per cent rate achieved in submissions of fourth national reports
Montreal, 8 August 2011 – Ninety per cent of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have submitted their fourth national reports. The Convention Secretariat has to date received 175 fourth national reports. Submitting a national report is an obligation that needs to be implemented by all 193 Parties without exception.
Speaking in his capacity as the President of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10), held in Nagoya in October 2010, the Minister of the Environment of Japan, H.E. Mr. Satsuki Eda, stated: “Japan is very pleased of having made its contribution in ensuring a submission of a maximum number of fourth national reports, as the information provided by the Parties greatly assisted in designing and adopting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.”
Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, welcomed the contribution of the 175th Party to submit its report, stating that: “By completing their reports, Parties are not only fulfilling their obligations under the Convention, they are also providing an analysis for their updated national biodiversity strategies and action plans to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, as well as a baseline against which future progress can be assessed. I call upon the remaining 18 Parties that have not done so to submit their fourth national reports as soon as possible.”
All final versions of the fourth national reports are available on the Convention’s website at: www.cbd.int/reports/search/
Monday, August 8, 2011
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
ON THE OCCASION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD’S
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
9 August 2011 (CBD)
On the occasion of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, we pay tribute to the indigenous peoples for their contributions to knowledge, innovations and practices in the conservation of biodiversity on Earth. In its preamble and articles, the Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes the pivotal role of indigenous peoples and local communities and their traditional knowledge in the conservation of life on Earth.
For indigenous peoples, the relationship with biodiversity, which the Quechua and Aymara call Pachamama (Mother Earth) has developed valuable skills that are manifested in the form of stories, songs, art, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, languages, agricultural practices, among others. These cultural expressions, from traditional oral tradition to rich artistic expressions such as singing, dancing, painting, sculpting and carving have taken place over millennia. This traditional knowledge is expressed in a way that preserves biodiversity and its continuation is very important in achieving the objectives of the Convention.
Manas estimated with 25-35 tigers (Bhutan)
Some 60 park staff have estimated 25 -35 tigers in the Royal Manas National Park (1,057 km2) through 88 camera stations. In entire Bhutan, tigers killed 543 livestock between 2003 -2011 and the forest management is required to compensate villagers with Nu 2,352,250.
July 30
http://www.kuenselonline.com/2010/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=20267
Tibetan endemic fishes
Over 330, 000 endemic fishes like schizothorax o'connori, oxygymnocypris stewartii, schizopygopsis younghusbandi and others were released into the Nyang River in southeast Tibet's Nyingchi. The Nyang River, the longest tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, is of great significance to the protection of Tibet’s native fishes and ecological environment of highland waters.
August 3
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