In anticipation of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to be held in December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico, Latin American and Caribbean Ministers of Environment have agreed to promote actions to mainstream biodiversity into productive sectors, and to implement regional and sub-regional plans to support implementation efforts.
The region has also been at the focus of efforts to promote forest restoration, with a CBD capacity-building workshop held in Bogotá, Colombia, and two publications supported by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) designed to assist in restoring coastal forests in Mexico.
April 2016: In anticipation of the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to be held in December 2016, in Cancun, Mexico, Latin American and Caribbean Ministers of Environment have agreed to promote actions to mainstream biodiversity into productive sectors, and to implement regional and sub-regional plans to support implementation efforts. The region has also focused on efforts to promote forest restoration, with a CBD capacity-building workshop held in Bogotá, Colombia, and two publications supported by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) designed to assist in restoring coastal forests in Mexico.
Meeting from 28-31 March 2016, in Cartagena, Colombia, the 20th Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean agreed to promote at CBD COP 13 the adoption of decisions in support of holistic and integrated approaches towards mainstreaming biodiversity considerations into productive sectors, including the strengthening of legal and institutional frameworks, and to link this with communication strategies targeted at relevant sectors. They further agreed to develop a regional cooperation programme on biodiversity to help build national capacities for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in addition to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020; and to support ongoing work on the elaboration of a Caribbean biodiversity strategy for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Ministers recognized the importance of the restoration agenda and agreed to build support for a decision, at COP 13, that would provide financing for ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems and their ecosystem functions, taking into account issues of connectivity with protected areas. In relevant, restoration-related news, a CBD capacity-building workshop for Latin America on the restoration of forests and other ecosystems to support the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets was held from 4-8 April 2016, in Bogotá, Colombia. In addition, a handbook designed to help local communities restore coastal dune ecosystems and a manual on the sustainable development of commercial timber plantations in dune systems have been published by Mexico’s Institute of Ecology as part of an ITTO-supported project focusing on environmental assessment and economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by coastal forests in Veracruz, Mexico.
Finally, Ministers agreed to promote the adoption and implementation in the region of the CBD Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS), and of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and its Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress. The Nagoya Protocol on ABS has also been the focus of a joint letter signed by Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico, as the incoming president of CBD COP 13, and CBD Executive Secretary Braulio Dias, who highlighted the relevance of ABS in light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and urged ratification as soon as possible.[CBD Press Release on LAC Ministerial Meeting] [Webpage of the 20th Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean] [CBD Capacity-building Workshop on Restoration] [ITTO Press Release, including links to publications (in Spanish)] [CBD Press Release on the Nagoya Protocol]