Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, including Aichi Biodiversity Targets

E-Forum on the Post 2010 Strategic Plan of the CBD: An Invitation to Contribute to the Updating and Revision of the Strategic Plan of the Convention

Question 4
What are the key issues that need to be addressed in the Strategic Plan?
submit as Anonymous
Please note: Once submitted, you can no longer modify the answer
You need to Sign In to be able to submit
Others' Replies
We would like to see a focus laid on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, rather that further developing each and every one of the articles of the convention. The Convention text only calls for the development of the biosafety protocol and the modalities for liability and compensation. THis means that all other provisions are complete and obligatory as such to the Parties.

THerefore the CoP should provide emphasis on the review of how the Parties have implemented the various provisions of the treaties and address the major difficulties in implementation.

submitted by Kok Eng Amy Sim
I think that the key issues are already addressed. Implementation is another level, the SP is a framework for action.
submitted by Marie-Jeanne PERROT-MINNOT
In addition to Article 8(f) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which calls for contracting parties to “rehabilitate and restore degraded ecosystems…”, sections 1.2.5 and 1.5.3 of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas (COP 7 Decision VII/28) call for the implementation of measures for the rehabilitation and restoration of the ecological integrity of protected areas and corridors, networks and buffer zones; and section 3.3.3 calls for the development and use, as well as the transfer of, appropriate technology related to restoration.

Ecological Restoration is emerging as an important component of the IUCN’s programme and the Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) has identified Ecosystem Restoration as one of its five priority programmatic elements and, in 2004, issued a joint call to action with the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) International (which was further explored in the SER’s May 2008 Briefing Note on the Ecosystem Approach) to further the principles of the ecosystem approach by identifying how ecological restoration can provide enhanced biodiversity outcomes as well as improve human well-being in degraded landscapes.
submitted by Yan Wang
update it

new target, use goal, objectives and targeted developed since the strategic plan to prepare a new framework, vision statement, mission statement, goals and outcome/targets. no need to develop a lot of material is alreay in decisions.
submitted by Richard Laing
MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY:

While there has been progress in the integration of biodiversity into some non-environmental sectors, a gap remains between political commitment and reality. The Strategic Plan should prioritize supporting Parties efforts to:

• Communicate that integrating biodiversity conservation into relevant sectoral policies is fundamental to the long-term sustainability of those policies and support work to demonstrate practical ways to achieve this.
• Ensure individual work plans, action plans and budgets of relevant sectoral policies include biodiversity considerations.
• Promote clearer understanding of linkages between ecosystem services and human well-being including the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity
• Facilitate access to biodiversity information for key government decisions,
• Identify and measure the drivers of biodiversity loss relevant to specific sectors.

CONSERVATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION:

The importance of biodiversity conservation and a healthy environment to the life and livelihoods of the poor is widely recognized. Many poor people are directly dependent on the various goods and services that biodiversity provides. Indeed, the 2010 target indicates that reducing the rate of biodiversity loss should contribute ‘to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth.’ Unfortunately, progress in this area is lagging, in part due to ‘the inadequate mainstreaming of biodiversity in national development and poverty eradication strategies’. For this reason, mainstreaming biodiversity into other sectors (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport, energy, health, poverty reduction etc.) as noted above (section 2(a) ii) will help ensure that biodiversity conservation contributes to poverty reduction.
These issues must be taken into consideration to ensure that benefits are equitably distributed.

More effectively incorporating poverty alleviation into the new strategic plan will likely have mutual and compounding benefits. Addressing biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation in harmony will, thus, facilitate progress in both areas. The post-2010 Strategic Plan should make the linkage between biodiversity, human livelihoods and poverty reduction a major priority. It should adopt a goal which ensures that in situations where conservation activities affect people at the local level, those activities contribute to poverty reduction.

STRONGER SCIENCE-POLICY LINKS ON BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

There is a need to strengthen the links between science and policy by providing appropriate and timely expert scientific expertise in the development and implementation of policies dealing with biodiversity and resulting ecosystem services that flow from a broad range of conservation efforts. The post-2010 Strategic Plan should ensure that the mechanism proposed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to achieve stronger science-policy links on biodiversity and ecosystem services is adequately streamlined into the work of the Convention at national, regional and global levels.

This submission reflects the shared views of BirdLife International, Conservation International, IUCN – World Commission on Protected Areas, IUCN Countdown 2010, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund for Nature, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
submitted by Anonymous

• Active engagement of all Parties is essential for a successful Strategic Plan revision. Adequate time for meaningful discussions on proposed revisions prior to and at the Third Working Group on Review of Implementation (WGRI III) of the Convention will help achieve this;

• Broad qualitative targets and associated indicators to measure progress are the most effective approach. These should help guide Parties to create their own, realistic, qualitative or quantitative targets and indicators. At the international level qualitative targets and indicators are more effective. Prescriptive targets and indicators are more effective at national, sub-national or local scales.

• The overarching goals should be to promote the health of biodiversity in the interest of human well-being, to reduce the risks to human well-being from biodiversity loss, and to ensure options for future generations are maintained. Healthy biodiversity promotes human well-being through public health (including disease reduction), economic stability, and personal and national security. The connection already made between poverty reduction and biodiversity is on the right track, but the revised Strategic Plan needs to make the connection broader, to include all aspects of human well-being, including but not limited to poverty reduction;

• Mainstreaming biodiversity needs to receive a higher profile in a revised strategic plan. This means that the emphasis should shift to collaboration and partnerships, with international institutions, sectors, disciplines and organizations. To do this CBD has to participate in the activities of other organizations. Inviting other sectors to participate in biodiversity activities is one approach, but a more powerful approach would be to reach out and offer to help articulate the biodiversity component of other exercises, particularly those focussed on human well-being.

• Communication needs to also have a higher profile in the strategic plan. This means communicating the meaning of biodiversity and the importance of biodiversity to human well-being, the shared responsibility for biodiversity protection, the wide ranging impacts of biodiversity loss and the necessity of incorporating biodiversity considerations into the goals and objectives of all organizations interested in human well-being, be they health-based, economic-based or biologically based.

• Promotion of targeted research and improved observations on the state of biodiversity is necessary to ensure the reduction of risk to biodiversity, provide options for the maintenance of current biodiversity in harmony with human well-being, and provide effective solutions to restoration of past damage.

• Strong emphasis on the importance of biodiversity in climate change responses, particularly in the areas of impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.
submitted by Jennifer Norris
Lack of basic data on the composition and distribution of biodiversity, especially in speciose groups; poor dissemination of this data to the countries and organisations which need it most; lack of people, skills and resources to implement recommendations in existing countries; poor co-ordination between different conservation NGO and governmental bodies; a lack of transfer between conservation recommendations and conservation actions.

All this is in the Strategic Plan, but the current state of affairs should be sufficient indication of how effective the Strategic Plan has been.
submitted by Theresa Natri
La plus grande priorité doit être mise sur la mise en œuvre des programmes de travail de la CBD. Ce ne doit pas être seulement de beaux documents adoptés dans l’enthousiasme mais des obligations, certes qui ne peuvent être que morales, pour tous les partenaires qui interviennent d’une façon ou d’une autre sur la diversité biologique.
Si la préoccupation principale doit rester l’arrêt de la perte de diversité biologique, sa restauration doit être un élément important.
La place de la recherche scientifique doit être renforcée. Si il est de la responsabilité des gouvernants de prendre les décisions, celles-ci doivent se baser sur des informations incontestables.
Il est commun de dire qu’on en sait assez pour agir, ce qui est exact, mais ça ne doit pas être une raison pour occulter le fait que la connaissance est très insuffisante. Depuis la connaissance des espèces (taxonomie et inventaire) qui existent jusqu’à la gestion des écosystèmes en passant par les le fonctionnement des écosystèmes, l’évaluation de l’état de conservation mais aussi les savoirs et savoir faire traditionnels, les rôles économiques, etc., le manque de d’information scientifique est sidéral. Il se pose également le problème de la circulation de l’information scientifique.
De même l’éducation du public, particulièrement les jeunes, et la formation des adultes méritent d’être amplifiée.
Un des grands problèmes rencontrés par la mise en œuvre du plan stratégique est l’insuffisance des moyens financiers disponibles. La coopération internationale, bilatérale ou multilatérale doit être renforcée mais il faut également utiliser des mécanismes de financement provenant des avantages tirés de la diversité biologique et la rémunération, par les bénéficiaires, des services des écosystèmes. Le plan doit comporter des engagements précis sur son financement.
Le rôle fondamental de la diversité biologique dans l’économie mondiale doit être fortement mis en valeur. Dans le contexte actuel de crise économique, il est essentiel de rappeler qu’un des moyens pour limiter les effets de cette crise et d’éviter qu’elle se perdure ou se reproduise, est une politique résolue de conservation et d’utilisation durable de la diversité biologique.
Il est crucial que les décideurs disposent d’informations fiables et le plus objectif possible. La mise en œuvre de l’IPBES se doit d’être considéré comme essentielle.
Par ailleurs, les Communautés autochtones et indigènes doivent pouvoir également y accéder.
Au-delà de l’intérêt pour la survie de l’homme, la notion de patrimoine de l’humanité que l’on a le devoir de transmettre intact aux générations futures ne doit pas être négligé.

submitted by Jean-Patrick LE DUC
I agree with those who mentioned that the connection between poverty reduction and biodiversity is on the right track but much more needs to be done and the Strategic Plan needs to make these connections broader, to include all aspects of human wellbeing, including but not limited to poverty reduction. In this respect, we should acknowledge that the UN system has already taken steps in linking security (which should include environmental security), development, poverty reduction and human rights. The One United Nations initiative (http://www.unsystemceb.org/oneun), including the publication 'In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All' should be explored and taken into account while trying to make the interlinkages between biodiversity and sustainable development work better in the CBD through a revised Strategic Plan. This should be done by addressesing biodiversity, development, security and human rights, and their interlinkages, in a balanced way.

submitted by Maurizio Ferrari
Issues related to: economics, science, education and outreach, linkages, implementation, monitoring and evaluation
submitted by Anonymous