The Magnificent 7
JNCC attend latest Biodiversity Conference of the Parties
The 7th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity took place in Kuala Lumpur from 9th to 20th
February 2004. JNCC staff Paul Rose and Steve Gibson provided
technical advice for the UK delegation. CBD was adopted at the
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992, and entered
into force in December 1993. As the first treaty to provide a legal
framework for biodiversity conservation, the Convention established
three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the
sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable
sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Contracting Parties are required to create and enforce national
strategies and action plans to conserve, protect and enhance
biological diversity. They are also required to undertake action to
implement the thematic work programmes on ecosystems and a range of
cross-cutting issues which have been established to take forward
the provisions of the Convention.
The busy agenda eventually adopted over 30 decisions
including:
- agreement on a global framework of outcome oriented targets and
indicators for measuring progress towards significantly reducing
the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010;
- a work programme for protected areas and mountain
ecosystems;
- principles to guide sustainable use;
- a means of developing tools to enable implementation of the
ecosystem approach, and
the enhancement of several important areas of work including inland
waters, invasive alien species, global taxonomy initiative and
removing perverse incentives.
There is of much to do now in implementing these and other
decisions, as well as looking forward to the next phase of work,
which will include work on island biodiversity. This is of
significant relevance to the UK's Overseas Territories and
Dependencies as well as to island communities in the UK.
During the course of the CoP the UK Minister for the
Environment, Elliot Morley launched the UK response to the Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation. The Strategy had been adopted at
the previous Conference of Parties in the Hague in 2002. This
response was the culmination of significant work between JNCC,
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Plantlife, with UK Government and
the devolved administrations to describe what challenges the UK
faces in implementing it. JNCC's Stephen Grady provided support to
this and a second Ministerial launch, as well as to the delegation
as a whole.
For more information on the CBD,
contact Paul Rose (01733) 866859 or
Steve Gibson (01733) 866815.