Brussels, 30/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - The ninth conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 9) was to end, on Friday 30 May in Bonn, with clearance for the setting in place, from this November on, of a world biodiversity observatory formed by an international group of experts and based on the model of the GIEC for climate. The aim of fixing targets for halting the decline in deforestation by 2020, and the creation of a framework setting out the conditions for sustainable production of biofuels, seems to have been attained. So, it would appear, this should meet with the European Union's satisfaction.
Recalling that the protection of biodiversity is “a moral obligation to be careful stewards of the planet for future generations”, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, said as ministerial work opened (28-30 May): “It is crucial that this conference continues the work … by agreeing to concrete actions to reach ambitious commitments”. The EP's proposals, set out in detail in an action plan, contain these concrete measures to halt the decline in biodiversity by 2010. Despite progress already accomplished however, since the adoption of the Wild Birds Directive in 1979, to enhance the European legislative arsenal for safeguarding nature, biodiversity loss continues at an alarming rate, he stressed. “The 'business as usual' approach has no chance of achieving the target of significantly reducing global biodiversity loss by 2010. In particular, we need to maximise synergies between climate change measures and biodiversity”, the president said. Mr Barroso also underlined the fact that: “If we can manage to find a way to stop deforestation, then there is an opportunity for a real 'win-win-win' situation: protecting biodiversity, fighting poverty and making a major contribution to the fight against climate change”. Combating illegal logging and trade in illegally harvested timber products could make a sizeable contribution to addressing the problem of deforestation, he said.
Speaking of biofuels, Mr Barroso warned: “Biofuels can and must be part of the solution, not part of the problem. To that end … the development of biofuels … must be sustainable, and must not jeopardise our efforts to protect biodiversity”.
The announcement made by Chancellor Angela Merkel about her government's commitment to allocate €500 million for protecting forests in the world, and then to make this half a million an annual allocation as of 2013, serves as an example for the 191 parties to the UN Framework Convention.
European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, President of the EU Environment Council Janez Podobnik, and Sigmar Gabriel, German Environment Minister, all stressed the importance of the Natura 2000 network of natural protected habitats, the largest network in the world (25,000 sites over 27 countries and covering a total surface area equivalent to that of the Amazonian Basin), but also the challenge of its implementation. Although designation of the Natura 2000 zones is coming to an end, extension of the network of marine areas will be a priority over coming years. During the conference, Commissioner Dimas and the German minister presented the first results of a joint study on the economic advantages of biodiversity worldwide, which highlights the cost of damage to ecosystems and of biodiversity loss.
Speaking on behalf of the Greens/EFA at the European Parliament, Marie Anne Isler Béguin (French Green member), who was at the Bonn meeting, said on 29 May that the political commitments of the 191 parties to the Convention were not sufficient to raise all the challenges tackled in Bonn. “Deforestation, the definition of natural protected areas, access to resources from biological diversity, the development of biofuels or plantations of genetically engineered trees: - unfortunately there are too many items on the conference agenda”, the MEP stressed in a press release. Ms Béguin mainly deplores the fact that, in a context where 37 countries suffer from severe food crises, “rather than put an end to the development of biofuels, the EU has called for the setting in place of unlikely sustainability criteria”. The MEP also bemoans the fact that, with just a few days to go to the French EU Council Presidency, the French government “was not represented in Bonn either by the minister of state for the environment or by his secretary of state”. (A.N.)