7 September 2010
CBD COP Presidencies Adopt Ministerial Call for Action
story highlights

3 September 2010: Meeting for the first time as a group, 11 ministers responsible for the environment, representing former and upcoming presidencies of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), gathered on 3 September 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland, and adopted the Geneva Ministerial Biodiversity Call for Immediate Action.

The […]

3 September 2010: Meeting for the first time as a group, 11 ministers responsible for the environment, representing former and upcoming presidencies of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), gathered on 3 September 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland, and adopted the Geneva Ministerial Biodiversity Call for Immediate Action.

The Call will be transmitted to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) high-level event on biodiversity, scheduled to take place on 22 September 2010, as well as to the ministerial segment of the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 10), to be held from 27-29 October 2010, in Nagoya, Japan. In the Call, the ministers state that equal attention must be given to the three CBD objectives. They call on all countries to: commit themselves to a common long-term vision and short-term mission for biodiversity; and achieve global, regional and national targets.

On climate change, they highlight that the issues of climate change and biodiversity loss are inextricably linked. They further underline that each can exacerbate the impacts of the other, but that some policy options that can address both issues. They underscore the importance of the identification of such co-benefits at global, regional and national levels. In particular, the Ministers emphasize that the implementation of voluntary efforts for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, including conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) mechanisms should be done to enrich biodiversity. [CBD Press Release] [IISD RS Sources]