With wildlife populations cut in half, governments need to redouble efforts

WWF Media Release

Gland, Switzerland: A status report on biodiversity protection efforts shows that serious action is required to reduce pressures on natural systems and prevent continued decline of wildlife. The report was released on Monday at the opening meeting of the Convention of Biological Diversity in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The report, the fourth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, shows that some gains have been made toward meeting global targets for biodiversity protection. However, WWF is concerned that in most cases progress will not be sufficient unless urgent action is taken.  

“Governments must supercharge efforts to fulfill their promise to strengthen protections for nature by 2020,” said Susan Brown, WWF Director of Global Policy. “CBD, its parties and all stakeholders cannot afford to fail. This meeting must break down barriers to generate the willpower and resources to protect what little remains of our natural world." 

In 2010, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a strategic plan and the Aichi targets, a set of 20 goals aimed at stemming species and habitat loss by 2020. According to today's report, a target to reduce human impacts on coral reefs and other ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean acidification will not be met by its 2015 deadline.

“The natural essentials of life – the ocean, fresh water, forests – are generally valued at zero when governments do their national bookkeeping,” said Brown. “We flip from apathy to panic when those same natural systems are damaged and the true economic and social costs of biodiversity loss are revealed. We need to invest in our natural infrastructure before we suffer its irreversible loss.”

Last week, WWF's Living Planet Report 2014 found that global wildlife populations have declined, on average, by 52 per cent in the 40-year period since 1970. According to the WWF report, freshwater species have suffered losses almost double that of land and marine species. The majority of these declines are coming from tropical regions, with Latin America enduring the most dramatic drop.

According to the WWF report, the biggest recorded threats to biodiversity come from the combined impacts of habitat loss and degradation. Exploitation of wildlife and climate change are also significant threats.

“The Living Planet Report and the Global Biodiversity Outlook highlight the dramatic changes we have seen in wildlife, both on land and in water. As societies rapidly develop, it is critical to integrate biodiversity goals into national efforts to address poverty eradication, food security, water, health, and energy,” said Brown

At the current round of meetings in South Korea, WWF is calling for the expansion of protected areas that are critical to safeguard natural places and wildlife. Emphasis should be placed on coastal systems that are connected to local livelihoods and food security. WWF is also asking governments to focus on halting deforestation and other habitat loss.

"Governments continue to work against their own interests by providing tax breaks and subsidies for nature-busting programmes,” said Brown. “We need to update and deliver national plans, at least double international funding for nature, and put in place financial incentives for protecting the natural foundation to the societies we want to build.”

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About WWF

WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.  www.panda.org/news for latest news and media resources

Contacts

Leanne Burton, WWF-Korea

LBurton@wwfkorea.or.kr

David Hirsch, WWF-International

dhirsch@wwfint.org

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194 governments unite to save global biodiversity

6 October 2014, Pyeongchang Korea, CBDCOP12 - Traditional Korean drums set an exciting pace this morning at the opening of the 12th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the fast pace symbolic of the urgent need to save global biodiversity. 

The World Wide Fund for Nature's Living Planet Report 2014 found that global wildlife populations have declined on average by 52% in the 40 year period since 1970. 

Over the next two weeks thousands of representatives of governments, non-governmental organisations, indigenous peoples, scientists and the private sector are gathered to accelerate the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011 - 2020 and its 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets which are to be achieved by the end of 2020.

All of which contribute to halting biodiversity loss across the planet.

The collection of decisions to be taken at the CBD COP 12 is referred to as the Pyeongchang Road Map and is anticipated to include a resource mobilisation strategy expected to significantly increase the resources available for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

"There has been increased financial investment and policy action to protect biodiversity, yet, studies show that it will be difficult to reach the full set of the Aichi targets if we remain within the current trajectory, due to accumulated and increased pressures on the natural world," said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner at the opening of the CBD COP 12.

"We need to do more, and do it fast, to protect the very fabric of the natural world."

At the opening today the Presidency of the Conference of the Parties was handed over from the Government of India to the Government of Korea.  The last Conference of the Parties to the CBD was hosted in Hyderabad, India in 2012.

The CBD COP 12 is from 6 to17 October in Pyeongchang, Korea.  14 Pacific island countries are party to the Convention on Biological Diversity with Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu currently in Korea attending the CBD COP12.  Soon to arrive are the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

To read the full CBD Secretariat press release on today's opening event please visit:  http://www.cbd.int/doc/press/2014/pr-2014-10-06-cop-12-en.pdf

UN meeting agrees on decisions to advance the implementation of the International Agreement on the safe use of living modified organisms

Pacific delegates attending the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety to the CBD,
L - R Kiribati, Palau, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Fiji.

CBD Press Release

Pyeongchang/Montreal 3 October 2014. Governments attending a United Nations meeting on the safe use of living modified organisms have agreed on various actions to advance the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity as a global tool contributing to the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMO) that may have negative effects on biodiversity.

Among the most significant outcomes was a decision inviting governments and other stakeholders to use the Guidance on Risk Assessment of Living Modified Organisms developed by an expert group that was established by governing body of the Protocol in actual cases of risk assessment and as a tool for capacity-building activities in risk assessment. A mechanism for revising and improving the Guidance was also agreed with a view to having an improved version of the Guidance by the eight meeting of the Parties in 2016.

The Parties also agreed to continue to identify living modified organisms intended for direct use as food or feed, or for processing that are subject to transboundary movement, by incorporating the information identified in decision BS-III/10 into existing documentation  accompanying living modified organisms.

Socioeconomic considerations were discussed extensively and a decision to re-convene a group of experts to further develop clarity on this issue and to develop an outline for guidance on this subject was adopted.

In a decision on improving the efficiency of structures and processes under the Convention and its Protocols, Parties agreed to hold subsequent meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol concurrently with the other meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, and also agreed that any Subsidiary body on Implementation established by the Convention should also serve the Protocol.

Parties also called upon countries that had not yet done so to ratify the Nagoya Kuala-Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress, and called upon the Executive Secretary to produce materials that would expedite its entry into force.

Pacific delegates attending the Cartegena Protocol to the CBD, L - R Mr. Joe Horokou (Solomons),
Mr. Puta Tofinga (Kiribati),  Ms. 'Eleni Tokaduadua (Fiji), Ms. Lupe Matoto (Tonga), Mr. Rahul Chand (Fiji)
and Mr. Fred Sengebau (Palau) 

Other decisions were reached on, inter alia, the Biosafety Clearinghouse, compliance, the financial mechanism and resources, monitoring and reporting, contained use of Living Modified Organisms and assessment and review of the effectiveness of the Protocol and the Protocol budget for the 2015 – 2016 biennium.

The meeting was closed by Mr. Lee In Ho, of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Government of the Republic of Korea, and Acting President of COPMOP7. 

He said: “All efforts made by the delegates over the past 5 days will pave the way for the effective implementation of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the Korean government will spare no effort for the development of the Protocol as the hosting country. In particular, the Republic of Korea has created the “Korea Biosafety Capacity Building Initiative” for the implementation of the Protocol and capacity building, and the initiative has been adopted by the agreement of the Parties. I am looking forward to the cooperation between Korea and all Parties for the achievement of the initiative.”

Braulio Dias, United Nations Assistant-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said of the meeting: “I congratulate the Parties on their hard work, and their spirit of compromise that they demonstrated this week. Their work has advanced the implementation of the Cartagena Protocol, and in so doing, not only ensures  biosafety, but also contributes to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its important role in the global agenda for sustainable development.”

The meeting was the first of a series of three meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity scheduled to take place in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea. The 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity opens on Monday 6 October 2014.

Notes: 

1. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Its objective is to contribute to ensuring the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms that may have adverse effects on conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. 

2. The Protocol was adopted on 29 January 2000 in Montreal, Canada and entered into force on 11 September 2003. To date, 167 countries and the European Union have ratified or acceded to it. 

3. The Protocol is named after the Colombian city of Cartagena where the final round of its negotiations was launched.