JNCC helps least-developed countries in Africa with CBD reports

Workshop participants visited the genebank run by the Ethiopian Institute of Biodiversity Conservation. Seeds collected across the country are sorted before checking quantities collected and stored in freezers for later characterisation and use ©James Williams/JNCC

One of the key issues for the global biodiversity conventions, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is to understand how the discussions held by Conferences of the Parties (CoP) are really being implemented. This is one of the functions of reports to conventions, which for CBD are due every four years.

JNCC was recently invited to contribute to a regional workshop to help 22 least-developed countries in Africa to understand the structure and contents of the next report, and to help them with drafting work. James Williams, from the Biodiversity Information Service, who has been involved in the last three UK reports to CBD, acted as a resource person at the workshop, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 4–8 May 2009.

The report format has four chapters. The first three focus respectively on: the state of biodiversity, state of national biodiversity strategy and action plan; and mainstreaming biodiversity into other sectors. The fourth chapter is intended to synthesise this information to assess progress towards the 2010 target and towards achieving the strategic plan of the Convention. These reports will be used as input to the next edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook, which will be considered by CBD CoP10 in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010.

JNCC's James Williams presenting at the workshop for 22 least developed countires in Africa © Kieran Noonan-Mooney/ Secretariat CBD

JNCC’s contribution to the workshop came as a result of our involvement in helping to prepare a draft chapter IV of the 4^th CBD National Report on behalf of UK as a contribution to a sample report presented in CoP9 in May 2008 in Bonn. The UK’s experience of creating biodiversity indicators is world class, and the sample chapter showed how these indicators would be used to show progress towards the 2010 target of “significantly reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss”.

In parallel with this work JNCC has helped complete the UK’s own report http://www.cbd.int/doc/world/gb/gb-nr-04-en.pdf, and an update of the UK biodiversity indicators www.jncc.gov.uk/biyp.

James Williams

Indicators & Reporting Manager, Biodiversity Information Service

Tel: +44 (0) 1733 866868

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