Information

COP 12 Decision XII/21

XII/21.Biodiversity and human health

The Conference of the Parties,
1.Welcomes the outcomes of regional capacity-building workshops, for Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, on the interlinkages between biodiversity and human health co-convened by the Executive Secretary and the World Health Organization, in collaboration with FIOCRUZ and other partners, and invites Parties to make use of the reports of these workshops in the updating and implementation of their national biodiversity strategies and action plans, as appropriate;
2.Encourages Parties to consider the linkages between biodiversity and human health in the preparation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, development plans, and national health strategies, including in line with the relevant international commitments, such as the Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment in Africa and the Changwon Declaration on human well-being and wetlands, as applicable;
3.Encourages Parties and other Governments to promote cooperation between sectors and agencies responsible for biodiversity and those responsible for human health;
4.Recognizes the value of the “One Health” approach to address the cross-cutting issue of biodiversity and human health, as an integrated approach consistent with the ecosystem approach (decision V/6) that integrates the complex relationships between humans, microorganisms, animals, plants, agriculture, wildlife and the environment;
5.Recognizes of the relevance of the cross-cutting initiative on biodiversity for food and nutrition 119 for the linkages among biodiversity, food, nutrition and human health;
6.Welcomes the progress in the preparation of the State of Knowledge Review: Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, developed by the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Health Organization and other partners, and requests the Executive Secretary to finalize the review, taking into account comments received during its peer-review;
7.Emphasizes the relevance of the linkages between biodiversity and human health for the post-2015 United Nations development agenda and the sustainable development goals, and, in this context, invites Parties and other relevant stakeholders to consider the information in the State of Knowledge Review: Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health, to identify opportunities for mutually supporting implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans and national strategies, plans and programmes for human health;
8.Invites Parties to consider the contribution of traditional knowledge and customary practices to human health;
9.Requests the Executive Secretary, subject to the availability of resources:
(a)To prepare a report on the implications of the findings of the State of Knowledge Review;
(b)To monitor the results of the second International Conference on Nutrition and to identify possible points of cooperation with the Convention;
(c)Further to paragraph 28 of decision XI/6, to carry out relevant activities as appropriate for the development of indicators on biodiversity and human health, taking into account the work envisaged in paragraph 20 (b) of decision XII/1;
(d)To continue efforts under the joint work programme between the Secretariat and the World Health Organization, including regional capacity-building workshops in additional regions, on the interlinkages between biodiversity and human health, and to report the results of collaborative work on biodiversity and human health to the 68th World Health Assembly, as well as the Conference of the Parties at its thirteenth meeting;
(e)To further strengthen collaboration on the interlinkages between biodiversity and health with other relevant organizations, including with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Union for the Conservation Nature, Bioversity International, Future Earth, EcoHealth Alliance, FIOCRUZ and the Wildlife Conservation Society, as well as with initiatives, such as the COHAB Initiative and Biodiversity and Community Health Initiative, as appropriate;
(f)Building upon the findings of the State of Knowledge Review, and in cooperation with relevant scientific partners, to prepare a synthesis of available information on the interlinkages between biodiversity and emerging infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus, including the common causes of biodiversity loss and disease emergence and related management practices, and the potential for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem management to contribute to reducing disease emergence and related risks to human health, and identify possible further steps for work in this regard;
(g)In cooperation with relevant international scientific programmes, to promote further research on the relationship between biodiversity and disease outbreak;
(h)To report on the tasks described in subparagraphs (a), (f) and (g) above to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological Advice for its consideration prior to the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties.
XII/20XII/22

119Decision VIII/23.