Press Release

The Gambia is first country in the world to establish citizen forum for achieving the 2010 biodiversity target. “Friends of the Convention on Life on Earth” will promote action for the planet by civil society.

DUBAI – 7 February 2006. In his message to the citizens of the world issued the first day after assuming office as the new Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf stated that “the Earth’s life support systems, from its forests and flowers to its coral reef and waterway, are under assault as never before”. He reminded the international community of the urgent need to fulfil the commitment to substantially reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010, adopted by 110 Heads of State and Government at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. H.E. President Dr. Alhaji Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, the President of the Republic of the Gambia, is the first Head of State to respond to this call. <br><br> Today, in Dubai, on the margins of the most important gathering of ministers of environment in the history of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—the ninth special session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, attended by 130 ministers of the environment—President Jammeh met with Dr. Djoghlaf and announced the decision to establish in the Gambia the Friends of the Convention on Life on Earth to mobilize civil society in the Gambia for the achievement of the 2010 biodiversity target, as adopted by the Heads of State and Government.

Publication Date
2006-02-07