Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 14 • 20th July 2007

Biodiversity Meeting Announces New Programme, Partnership

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Delegates to a major international biodiversity conference last week announced the launch of a programme to monitor the status of the world’s plant and animal species and agreed to cooperate more closely with an international association of agricultural producers.

The 12th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-12), a working group of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was held in Paris from 2-13 July. Meeting participants also discussed emerging issues concerning biofuel production, and recognised the importance of considering the trade implications of any new CBD policies on biofuels. Delegates also underscored the need to fully understand whether potential CBD biofuels requirements would conflict with either world trade rules or provisions of other multilateral environmental agreements.

The newly announced wildlife monitoring programme, dubbed the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership, is a joint project between the UN Environment Programme, which will implement the programme, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which is providing USD 3.6 million in funding. The project is meant to facilitate the implementation of a set of biodiversity indicators meant to measure progress towards member governments’ previously agreed goal to “significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.”

“The biodiversity challenge is no less urgent a public issue than the climate change crisis,” Monique Barbut, CEO of the GEF, told reporters. “This effort helps move biodiversity to the front burner to help ignite policy makers to take informed action.”

Delegates to the meeting also signed a formal partnership agreement with the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), which represents 115 farmers’ groups in more than 80 nations, the majority of which are developing countries. Under the terms of the new agreement, IFAP will represent the views of farmers at future CBD meetings, and will help enhance the convention’s programme of work on agricultural biodiversity. The association will also seek to educate its members on the role of sustainable agricultural development in preserving biodiversity.

The convention’s work on agricultural biodiversity will be reviewed at the next meeting of the SBSTTA, which will be held in Rome, Italy in February 2008.

“Summary of the 12th meeting of the SBSTTA and 2nd meeting of the ad hoc open-ended working group on review of implementation of the convention on biological diversity,” EARTH NEGOTIATIONS BULLETIN, 16 July 2007; “Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity signs memorandum of cooperation with the International Federation of Agricultural Producers,” CBD PRESS RELEASE, 2 July 2007; “New Global Partnership Tracks Plant and Animal Survival,” ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, 12 July 2007.