Side Event

Drifting woods: the voyage from Eastern Africa to Nagoya

Organizer
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Date and Time
28 October 2010 16:30 - 18:0

Meeting
Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 10)

Climate change, a truly global challenge, has brought the strong interconnectivity of global ecosystems to the highest political agenda. Yet, in other environments, the understanding of global ecosystem functioning may be relatively well understood by scientists, sometimes recognized by Governments, but little acted upon at the right scale. In the marine environment, the interconnectivity of ecosystems is beyond any boundaries. Overfishing in one part of the world may affect migratory stocks virtually on the other end of the globe. Invasive species are carried over by ships, with a potential to bring severe changes to local species diversity. Pollution and habitat destruction resulting from shore-based activities may impact on important habitats for marine turtles, birds and other species of a global migratory nature. In short, the marine world constitutes one large ecosystem of interconnected habitats. The side event will discuss the global challenges related to the management of the marine and coastal environment, including its biodiversity, on the basis of practical examples of cases from around the world. The driftwood table-set featuring at the COP tells the story of four places of particular high biodiversity from around the world, bringing these together, as in reality, as a little uniform but strongly inter-depended system. The event will feature speakers from various parts of the world telling their stories and acting as panel members for discussions regarding common challenges. The discussions will specifically also focus on the challenges related to the implementation of the CBD. The event will furthermore present an overview of various initiatives undertaken by WWF to work with Governments in addressing some of the global challenges related to management of the coastal and marine environment. Examples of such initiatives are the global Smart Fishing Gear Initiative, the China SHIFT Initiative, the Coral Triangle Initiative and the Coastal East Africa Initiative.