Biodiversity
Convention on Biological Diversity (Biodiversity)
31 May 2008
Good Intentions Eclipse New Funding at Biodiversity Meet
Stephen Leahy, IPS
BONN - The world community took some ever-so-careful steps towards slowing the biodiversity crisis at a major U.N. meeting in Bonn, while emphasising the need for urgency and action.
Biofuels were the most intensely debated issue in Bonn with biofuel-powerhouse Brazil going head to head with the EU that badly needs biofuels to meet its greenhouse gas commitments but has been stung by scientific and other reports that some biofuels make climate change worse, lead to deforestation and are pushing up food prices. … members agreed at the last minute that biofuels production ought to be environmentally sustainable and not impact biodiversity.
And, after 16 years of meetings, the 168 nations that have ratified the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) agreed to a final two-year timetable to establish an asset and benefit sharing (ABS) regime.
ABS is about access to biodiversity and equitable sharing of benefits resulting from its use. The intent is to end “biopiracy” — the exploitation of indigenous plants and animals for profit without permission or compensation — and reverse countries’ denial of access to any native species for scientific or commercial purposes. Half of all synthetic drugs have been derived from plants or insects.
Progress at UN biodiversity forum
(BBC) Nearly 200 countries have agreed on measures to protect the world’s most threatened wildlife.
At a Bonn conference they pledged to set up a deep-sea nature reserve and increase by tens of millions of hectares the area of land protected.
The Convention on Biological Diversity meeting also agreed to prepare a firm position on the benefits and drawbacks of biofuels by the next forum in 2010. But environmentalists said the outcome of the UN forum was unsatisfactory.
(ENB) The achievements of CBD COP 9 include: adoption of the “Bonn roadmap” for the negotiation of the international regime on access and benefit-sharing (ABS); adoption of scientific criteria and guidance for marine areas in need of protection; adoption of the Convention’s first resource mobilization strategy; a decision on biodiversity and climate change, including language cautioning against ocean fertilization; and agreement on biofuels. More on COP9 from ENB
Biodiversity conference targets bio-piracy
(AP/CBC) Delegates to a UN conference in Germany on biological diversity agreed Friday to develop measures to counter bio-piracy and protect marine wildlife and rainforests.
Several governments at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity pledged funds to protect undeveloped forests, with Norway announcing plans to spend $930 million US annually for the next three years and Germany saying Wednesday that it will commit $775 million US over the next four years.
Germany’s environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said he had not expected “real progress to be made on so many points,” hinting at doubts before the conference that delegates would be able to agree on the issues.
Delegates pledged to stem bio-piracy — the claiming of unauthorized ownership of a natural organisms for profit — and reaffirmed a commitment to drastically slow species loss by 2010. Part of the plan to halt bio-piracy, which should be finished in 2010, is a new plan to reimburse biodiverse developing countries that provide wild strains that strengthen crops in industrialized countries against disease.
A major point of discussion during the conference was the questionable ecological benefits of biofuels and the strain that large-scale production of the fuels might put on crop and forest land. Delegates agreed to take a more definitive stand on biofuels at the 2010 conference.
High Seas Marine protected areas, which would be declared off limits to human activity.
Delegates also ruled that genetic engineering to produce new varieties of trees should be allowed only after weighing the risks of each individual research project.
Biodiversity Conference Ends with Mixed Results
(Deutsche Welle) The organizers of the UN biodiversity conference that ended in Bonn on Friday evening claimed success in securing funding to protect wildlife, while activists voiced disappointment over what they saw as slow progress.
Conference president German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel highlighted the agreement struck on access and benefit sharing (ABS) from nature’s resources, as the 12-day conference’s main achievement.
The ABS deal — known as the Bonn Mandate — has laid down a specific agenda to be discussed ahead of an agreement to halt “biopiracy” expected to be reached at the next CBD conference in the Japanese city of Nagoya in 2010.
Poorer countries with unique natural resources are concerned at the patenting of indigenous remedies by the pharmaceutical industry without payments to the countries where they originate.
30 May
Loss of biodiversity threatens livelihoods of world’s poorest
(The Independent) Mass extinctions of plants and animals could have a severe impact on the living standards of the poorest people on the planet and cost up to £40bn a year, the first major report into the economic impact of biodiversity loss has found.
Scientists say biodiversity is facing its greatest threat in millions of years, with three species dying out every hour. Now, the economic cost of such destruction has been assessed.
A New Universal Global Alliance for Biodiversity Protection Established in Bonn.
UN biodiversity conference down to wire with scant results
BONN, Germany (AFP) — A major UN conference on how to slow species loss and the destruction of the world’s ecosystems entered its final hours Friday with a half-dozen proposals on the table but virtually nothing decided.
29 May
Nature loss ‘to hurt global poor’
Damage to forests, rivers, marine life and other aspects of nature could halve living standards for the world’s poor, a major report has concluded.
Current rates of natural decline might reduce global GDP by about 7% by 2050.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) review is modelled on the Stern Review of climate change.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity — TEEB
At CBD COP 9 today, 29th May, a report setting out a “comprehensive and compelling economic case for the conservation of biodiversity” was presented by the report’s author Mr. Pavan Sukhdev, [head of Deutsche Bank’s global markets business in India].
What is the Issue?
Nature provides human society with a vast diversity of benefits such as food, fibres fuel, clean water, healthy soil, protection from floods, protection from soil erosion, medicines, storing carbon (important in the fight against climate change) and many more. Though our wellbeing is totally dependent upon these “ecosystem services” they are predominantly public goods with no markets and no prices, so they often are not detected by our current economic compass. As a result, due to the pressures coming from population growth, changing diets, urbanisation and also climate change, biodiversity is declining, our ecosystems are being continuously degraded and we, in turn, are suffering the consequences. More from IPS
27 May
3 Heads of State, 87 Ministers to Open Biodiversity High Level Conference.
March 9, 2007
Biodiversity ‘fundamental’ to economics
We are gradually becoming aware of the fundamental importance of biological diversity for the global economy.
The G8 nations, together with the five major emerging economies of China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, use almost three-quarters of the Earth’s biocapacity - the capacity of the world’s ecosystems to produce natural resources and to reduce harmful substances.
That is why Germany has chosen both biodiversity and climate change as top priorities for this year’s environment ministers’ G8+5 meeting.
The participating countries have the capabilities needed to move a step closer to solutions to these two fundamental issues, which are so vital to a sustainable global future.
