Science Features

PREVIEW: UN conference aims to brake biodiversity loss

May 13, 2008, 12:37 GMT

Bonn, Germany - There is little optimism that the biodiversity targets laid down at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the Sustainable Development Summit in Johannesburg a decade later will be met by the 2010 deadline. But the organizers of the UN conference on the loss of biodiversity in Bonn this month are convinced that increased efforts to save threatened species from extinction can be effective. The German hosts have invited 5,000 participants in all, from governments, nongovernmental organizations and business. The meeting brings together representatives from 190 countries, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichuro Koizumi. 'While there are numerous examples of actions which have been taken to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, the available evidence suggests that the 2010 biodiversity target will not be met,' they organizers say ahead of the summit, which takes place May 19-30. That target was to 'reduce significantly' the rate of loss of biodiversity. There is still time to take action before 2010, but the conference, the ninth meeting of the body that implements the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed in Rio de Janeiro, is focused on the mid- and long-term future. 'Many of the actions taken now will only bear fruit in 20 or 50 years, because both natural systems and societies have a certain degree of inertia,' the preconference literature says. Loss of biodiversity is one of the two great global challenges: the other is the linked problem of climate change. Conservation and environmental pressure groups like Greenpeace and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) are watching the proceedings carefully. The agenda includes the destruction of indigenous forests and the plundering of the sea, as well as the question how to counter the resulting loss of biodiversity. The Greenpeace coordinator for the conference, Martin Kaiser, demands a decision to halt the destruction of forests by 2015. 'Indigenous forests are disappearing at a dramatic rate, caused by illegal and unsustainable felling, by fire clearance and increasingly by the demand for so-called biofuels,' Kaiser told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in an interview. As the organizers note, there is a general recognition of the need to address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, but they warn: 'There is just no consensus of how to go about this.' Other themes include tapping traditional knowledge on medicines and the need to promote biodiversity in the world's poorest cities. Here the organizers note that 'no biodiversity programme can be successful without strong links to poverty alleviation and benefit sharing.' A hot topic added shortly just before the conference is the impact of biofuels on agriculture. The conference is set to look into how many hectares, and how many species, will have to yield to the insatiable demand for fuel. Kaiser is particularly concerned about this relatively new problem and called for a binding legal framework for the responsible use of biofuels. 'If this does not happen in Bonn, the problems of global warming, loss of biodiversity and also of hunger and poverty will increase,' he says. The industrialized world has a particular responsibility in pioneering change and providing the funding for developing countries, he says. The ninth conference of the parties to the CBD is the last major gathering before the 2010 target date, and a central aim is to draft a document similar to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change to take over after 2010. The organizers are keen to secure binding commitment to clearly laid down targets, along the lines of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol global warming and the successor agreement which began to take shape at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali in December. German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is attending the conference, has called for progress in this regard. 'The Convention on Biological Diversity is at the crossroads. In Bonn we have to demonstrate that there is movement and not stasis,' he said in the run-up to the conference.