Following the conclusion of the High-Level Segment (HLS) and adoption of the Cancún Declaration on 3 December 2016, the main part of the UN Biodiversity Conference started on Sunday afternoon.
In their interventions, participants highlighted the interlinkages among biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need for funding for the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and synergies across conventions and protocols.
CBD Executive Secretary Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias welcomed increased submission of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), but noted that few NBSAPs addressed capacity building, communication, poverty eradication and sustainable development plans.
4 December 2016: Following the conclusion of the High-Level Segment (HLS) and adoption of the Cancún Declaration on 3 December 2016, the main part of the UN Biodiversity Conference commenced on Sunday afternoon, 4 December, with opening plenaries.
These included plenaries of the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP/COP-MOP 8) and the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP/COP-MOP 2). In their interventions, participants highlighted, inter alia, interlinkages among biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the need for funding for the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and synergies across Conventions and Protocols.
Chun Kyoo Park, Ministry of Environment, the Republic of Korea, on behalf of the COP 12 Presidency, said the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets is a necessary condition to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Beginning their work on 4 December, delegates addressed organizational matters, including: adoption by COP 13, CP/COP-MOP 8 and NP/COP-MOP 2 of their respective agendas and organization of work; election of Rafael Pacchiano Alamán, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico, President of COP 13, CP/COP-MOP 8 and NP/COP-MOP 2; as well as election of Rapporteur and other UN Biodiversity Conference officials. Plenaries also heard various reports and opening statements, and established a budget group.
Opening the meeting, Chun Kyoo Park, Ministry of Environment, the Republic of Korea, on behalf of the COP 12 Presidency, said the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets is a necessary condition to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and underscored the need to intensify efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets that lag behind.
UN Environment Deputy Executive Director Ibrahim Thiaw noted, inter alia: the importance of combating environmental crime, especially illegal trade of wildlife and timber; the fact that climate change adaptation and mitigation can only be achieved with healthy ecosystems; and the challenge of communicating biodiversity issues to the general public.
CBD Executive Secretary Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias welcomed increased submission of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), but noted that few NBSAPs addressed capacity building, communication, poverty eradication and sustainable development plans. He noted that only four more ratifications are needed for the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to enter into force. [IISD RS Coverage of UN Biodiversity Conference]