Informal joint meeting for participants in the 23rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)Organized by Environment Canada in cooperation with the Secretariats of the CBD and UNFCCC
30 November 2005
Combating climate change and conserving and using sustainably biodiversity are two of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Ambitious targets to address climate change and reduce biodiversity loss have been agreed in the frameworks of the
UNFCCC and the
CBD respectively. But there are major interlinkages among the issues addressed by these two conventions. Climate change is a major driver of biodiversity loss. The conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, on the other hand, can contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation activities.
Canada hosted the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC and the first Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol from 28 November to 9 December, 2005. The 23rd session of the UNFCCC SBSTA also took place as part of these meetings. In parallel, the 11th meeting of the CBD SBSTTA takes place in Montreal from 28 November to 2 December, 2005. Taking advantage of the coincidence of the meetings of the scientific bodies of the two conventions in the same location, Environment Canada organized an informal joint meeting for participants in the two meetings.
PurposeThe aim of the meeting is to further mutual understanding among the participants on the interlinkages between climate change and biodiversity. Respecting its informal nature, there will be no agreed output of the meeting.
The meeting was opened at 7.30pm by the Chairs of the 23rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice of the UNFCCC and the 11th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the CBD. They briefly described the importance of cooperative activities between the two scientific bodies.
Speakers: | Mr. Abdullatif S. Benrageb (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Chair, UNFCCC-SBSTA |
| Mr. Christian Prip (Denmark) Chair, CBD-SBSTTA |
Presentations were then made to illustrate interlinkages between biodiversity and climate change, building inter alia, on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the reports of the ad hoc technical expert groups of the CBD on interlinkages between biodiversity and climate change.
Speakers:
