Speaking at the Southern Africa Regional Capacity-Building Workshop (SARC), the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) also announced that the UN Decade on Biodiversity will be launched officially on 22 May in Tokyo, Japan, with regional launches to follow.
14 March 2011: Speaking at the opening of the Southern Africa Regional Capacity-Building Workshop (SARC) on updating National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), stressed that protecting biodiversity means protecting the essence of peoples and cultures.
The workshop opened in Kasane, Botswana, on 14 March 2011. Djoghlaf highlighted the adoption of: the Nagoya Biodiversity Compact comprising a global and comprehensive biodiversity strategy for 2011-2020, known as the Aichi Targets; the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising out of their Utilization (ABS); the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; and the Strategy for Resource Mobilization in support of the three objectives of the Convention. He also noted that the UN Decade on Biodiversity will be launched on 22 May 2011 in Tokyo, Japan, with regional launches to follow.
In reference to the importance of the workshop, in the context of follow-up to the achievements of the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD (COP 10), Djoghlaf stressed that many African countries already have gained substantial experience in developing and implementing National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), and that to provide effective guidance on national implementation, new NBSAPs must be formulated as soon as possible. He noted that Japan, to assist eligible countries in translating the Aichi Targets into NBSAPs before COP 11, has established a Japan Biodiversity Fund.
Finally, he emphasized that the signing and ratification of the Nagoya Protocol is an urgent topic, and said that, to reach consensus on funding targets at COP 11, progress must be made on understanding what constitutes biodiversity-related funding and the levels needed. The workshop on updating NBSAPs concluded on 20 March 2011. [Statement by CBD Executive Secretary]