Acknowledgements
The preparation of the third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) began in 2006 following the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. GBO-3, like its previous two editions, is an output of the processes under the Convention. Parties to the Convention, other Governments, and observer organizations have helped to shape the Outlook through their contributions during various meetings as well as through their comments and inputs to earlier drafts of GBO-3.
GBO-3 has been prepared by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in close collaboration with the World Conservation Monitoring Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-WCMC). Numerous partner organizations and individuals from Governments, non-governmental organizations and scientific networks have generously contributed their time, energy and expertise to the preparation of GBO-3, which really is a product of the collective efforts of this community. The sheer number of organizations and people involved in GBO-3 makes it difficult to thank all contributors by name and doing so runs the risk that some may be overlooked. We sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been unintentionally omitted.
The third and fourth national reports submitted by the Parties to the Convention have been key sources of information in the preparation of GBO-3. These reports, which detail the status and trends of biodiversity at the national level as well the successes and challenges in implementing the Convention, have influenced the entire report and have in particular guided the preparation of the chapter on future strategic actions, alongside the process to update the Convention's Strategic Plan beyond 2010. The Secretariat would like to thank the more than 110 Parties who had submitted their fourth national reports by the time GBO-3 was finalized.
One of the main purposes of GBO-3 is to report on the progress which has been made by the world community towards the 2010 Biodiversity Target. This assessment, presented in the first section of the report, is based on data and analyses provided by the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership, a network of organizations which have come together to provide the most up-to-date biodiversity information possible in order to judge progress towards the target. The Partnership is coordinated by UNEPWCMC, with the Secretariat supported by Anna Chenery, Philip Bubb, Damon Stanwell-Smith and Tristan Tyrrell. Indicator partners include BirdLife International, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Global Footprint Network, the Global Invasive Species Programme, the International Nitrogen Initiative, IUCN, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Nature Conservancy, the University of Queensland, TRAFFIC International, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme GEMS/Water Programme, the UNEP-WCMC, the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre, WWF, and the Zoological Society of London as well as a number of Associate Indicator Partners. Global Environment Facility full-sized project funding provided substantial financial support for the activities of the Partnership, including development of many of the global indicators used in monitoring progress towards the 2010 target. Financial support was also provided by the European Commission.
In preparing GBO-3 some 500 scholarly articles were examined and multiple assessments from international organizations were drawn upon. This collection of scientific information, experiences and perspectives was fundamental to the conclusions presented in GBO-3, and essential in reinforcing the information contained in the fourth national reports and that provided by the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership. In addition, case study material was provided by a large number of partners amongst which the Equator Initiative, the Small Grants Program of the Global Environment Facility and the Forest Peoples Programme have been particularly active.
The section of GBO-3 on biodiversity scenarios and tipping points is based on a larger study prepared by DIVERSITAS and UNEP-WCMC. The Secretariat would like to thank the lead authors of this report Paul Leadley, Henrique Miguel Pereira, Rob Alkemade, Vânia Proença, Jörn P.W. Scharlemann, and Matt Walpole, as well as the contributing authors John Agard, Miguel Araújo, Andrew Balmford, Patricia Balvanera, Oonsie Biggs, Laurent Bopp, William Cheung, Philippe Ciais, David Cooper, Joanna C. Ellison, Juan Fernandez-Manjarrés, Joana Figueiredo, Eric Gilman, Sylvie Guenette, Bernard Hugueny, George Hurtt, Henry P. Huntington, Michael Jennings, Fabien Leprieur, Corinne Le Quéré, Georgina Mace, Cheikh Mbow, Kieran Mooney, Aude Neuville, Carlos Nobres, Thierry Oberdorf, Carmen Revenga, James C. Robertson, Patricia Rodrigues, Juan Carlos Rocha Gordo, Hisashi Sato, Bob Scholes, Mark Stafford-Smith, Ussif Rashid Sumaila, and Pablo A. Tedescco.
In order to ensure that the findings of GBO-3 were of the highest possible quality, two drafts were made available for peer review between August and December 2009. During this time responses were received from almost 90 reviewers who provided more than 1,500 individual comments. The Outlook was greatly enhanced by these comments. The preparation of GBO-3 has been overseen by an Advisory Group and a Scientific Advisory Panel. The Secretariat is grateful for the guidance and support provided by the members: Thomas M. Brooks, Stuart Butchart, Joji Carino, Nick Davidson, Braulio Dias, Asghar Fazel, Tony Gross, Peter Herkenrath, Kazuaki Hoshino, John Hough, Jon Hutton, Tom Lovejoy, Kathy MacKinnon, Tohru Nakashizuka, Carsten Neßhöver, Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Axel Paulsch, Balakrishna Pisupati, Jan Plesnik, Christian Prip, Peter Schei, James Seyani, Jane Smart, Oudara Souvannavong, Spencer Thomas, Matt Walpole, Dayuan Xue, and Abdul Hamid Zakri.
GBO-3 consists of a range of products. This main report was prepared to provide a short and concise overview of current and projected biodiversity trends, and policy options to address biodiversity loss and negative impacts for human well-being. Comments and additional information received through the peer review process as well as case study examples that could not be incorporated in the main report have mostly been included in an extended technical document and will be made available online through the GBO-3 web portal accessible from www.cbd.int/gbo3. For reasons of readability, this version of the report does not include scientific references. However, these can be consulted in an annotated version also available on the GBO-3 web portal.
GBO-3 was written by Tim Hirsch with Kieran Mooney, Robert Höft and David Cooper. Ahmed Djoghlaf and Jo Kalemani Mulongoy provided guidance. Its production was managed by Robert Höft, Kieran Mooney and David Ainsworth. In addition many Secretariat colleagues provided input and feedback on GBO-3 including Ahmed Abdullah, Véronique Allain, Claire Baffert, Mateusz Banski, Caroline Belair, Lise Boutin, Lijie Cai, Monique Chiasson, Tim Christophersen, David Coates, Olivier de Munck, Charles Gbedemah, Linda Ghanimé, Christine Gibb, Sarat Babu Gidda, Susanne Heitmuller, Michael Hermann, Oliver Hillel, Christopher Hogan, Lisa Janishevski, Claudia Kis Madrid, Stefano La Tella, Jihyun Lee, Markus Lehmann, Sandra Meehan, Djessy Monnier, Noriko Moriwake, Valerie Normand, Neil Pratt, Nadine Saad, John Scott, Ravi Sharma, Junko Shimura, Stella Simiyu, Gweneth Thirlwell, Alberto Vega, Danush Viswanathan, Frédéric Vogel, Jaime Webb, Anne-Marie Wilson, Kati Wenzel, and Yibin Xiang.
Graphs were designed by In-folio. The layout was prepared by Phoenix Design Aid. Camellia Ibrahim assisted with photo selection.
Editing and proof-reading of the language versions was done by Abdelwahab Afefe, Anastasia Beliaeva, Lise Boutin, Lijie Cai, Clementina Equihua Zamora, Moustafa Fouda, Thérèse Karim, Diane Klaimi, Nadine Saad, Jérôme Spaggiari and Tatiana Zavarzina.
The production of GBO-3 was enabled by financial contributions from Canada, the European Union, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as UNEP.
While the Secretariat has taken great care to ensure that all statements made in GBO-3 are backed up by credible scientific evidence, it assumes full responsibility for any errors or omission in this work.
