A new era of living in harmony with Nature is born at the Nagoya Summit

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity / United Nations Environment Programme

Some 18,000 participants representing the 193 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and their partners closed the Nagoya Biodiversity Summit by adopting historic decisions that will permit the community of nations to meet the unprecedented challenges of the continued loss of biodiversity compounded by climate change. Governments agreed on a package of measures that will ensure that the ecosystems of the planet will continue to sustain human well-being into the future.

The meeting achieved its three inter-linked goals: adoption of a new ten year Strategic Plan to guide international and national efforts to save biodiversity through enhanced action to meet the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a resource mobilization strategy that provides the way forward to a substantial increase to current levels of official development assistance in support of biodiversity; and a new international protocol on access to and sharing of the benefits from the use of the genetic resources of the planet.

"History will recall that it was here in Nagoya that a new era of living in harmony was born and new global alliance to protect life on earth was established. History will also recall that this would not have been possible without the outstanding leadership and commitment of the government and people of Japan", said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention. "If Kyoto entered history as the city where the climate accord was born, Nagoya will be remembered as the city where the biodiversity accord was born."

The President of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-10), the Minister of the Environment of Japan, Ryu Matsumoto, said, "the outcome of this meeting is the result of hard work, the willingness to compromise, and a concern for the future of our planet. With this strong outcome, we can begin the process of building a relationship of harmony with our world, into the future".

The Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity or the Aichi Target, adopted by the meeting includes 20 headline targets, organized under five strategic goals that address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, reduce the pressures on biodiversity, safeguard biodiversity at all levels, enhance the benefits provided by biodiversity, and provide for capacity-building.

Among the targets, it is important to note that Parties:

- Agreed to at least halve and where feasible bring close to zero the rate of loss of natural habitats including forests;

- Established a target of 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas;

- Through conservation and restoration, Governments will restore at least 15 percent of degraded areas; and

- Will make special efforts to reduce the pressures faced by coral reefs.

Parties also agreed to a substantial increase in the level of financial resources in support of implementation of the Convention.

The Aichi Target will be the overarching framework on biodiversity not only for the biodiversity-related conventions, but for the entire United Nations system. Parties agreed to translate this overarching international framework into national biodiversity strategy and action plans within two years.

Actions in support will also take place at subnational and local levels. Parties endorsed a plan of action on cities and biodiversity adopted by the Nagoya Biodiversity City summit attended by more 200 mayors. 122 legislators from around the world attending the GLOBE meeting on parliamentarians and biodiversity agreed to support the implementation of the new Strategic Plan.

The importance of acting to conserve biodiversity also received support by the donor community. Representatives of 34 bilateral and multilateral donor agencies agreed to translate the plan into their respective development cooperation priorities.

The Multi-Year Plan of Action on South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development adopted by the 131 members of the Group of 77 and China was welcomed as an important instrument at the service of the new vision.

Finance in support of implementation of the Convention was announced. The Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Naoto Kan, announced 2 billion United States dollars in financing, the Minister of Environment of Japan announced the establishment of a Japan Biodiversity Fund. Additional financial resources were announced by France, the European Union and Norway. Some 110 million United States dollars were mobilized in support of projects under the CBD LifeWeb Initiative aimed at enhancing the protected-area agenda.

Financial support for the Strategic Plan will be provided under the framework of the resource mobilization strategy. Parties will work to define in time for the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2012, the targets and mechanisms through which financial resources can be identified, unleashed and channelled.

Parties adopted the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization. The historic agreement creates a framework that balances access to genetic resources on the basis of prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms with the fair and equitable sharing of benefits while taking into account the important role of traditional knowledge. The Protocol also proposes the creation of a global multilateral mechanism that will operate in transboundary areas or situations where prior informed consent cannot be obtained.

The Nagoya Protocol is expected to enter into force by 2012, with support from the Global Environment Facility of one million United States dollars to support early entry into force.

The high-level segment of the Nagoya Summit was held with the participation of 122 ministers and five Heads of State and Government, including the President of Gabon, the President of Guinea-Bissau, the Prime Minister of Yemen representing the Group of 77 and China, as well as Prince Albert of Monaco. The President of the sixty-fifth session of United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Joseph Deiss presented the summary of the high-level meeting on biodiversity held during the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York on 22 September. The meeting was also attended by H.H. Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Mohammad Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia.

The importance of better integrating the biodiversity agenda with that of climate change and land degradation was covered in the dynamic programme of events and activities at the Ecosystems Pavilion (www.ecosystemspavilion.org), where heads of agencies and international organizations discussed the ways that all three agendas could be implemented in support of sustainable development.

COP-11, the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties, will take place in 2012 in India.