Brazil to be in the forefront of negotiations in Nagoya

Brazil plans to take the leading role in negotiations during the UN Conference on Biological Diversity (COP-10), to be held from October 18 to 29 in Nagoya, Japan. The Brazilian goal is to reaffirm the pact among the signatories of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to achieve the targets set in Johannesburg in South Africa in 2002.

The country will also advocate the sharing of benefits arising from the genetic heritage of biodiversity, the main point at the convention sustained by the 17 megadiverse countries - the ones home to most species on Earth, and together hold about 70% of the entire planet's biodiversity - among them Brazil. Preparatory meetings have been held by megadiverse nations in order to establish a joint proposal to be presented during COP-10.

The meeting in Japan will gather some 100 countries, including the 17 megadiverse countries and major economic powers. The aim is to seek solutions which can quickly take effect in order to avoid new environmental collapses across the planet.

In this International Year of Biodiversity - established by the UN - the nations will discuss the loss of biodiversity, which affects not only animals and plants, but interferes with the maintenance of human life and the balance of the planet. The losses resulting from the reduction process of species reached an annual figure between $ 2 trillion and $ 4.5 trillion, according to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Global diversity declines - According to the third report of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), released in early May by the United Nations (the Portuguese version was launched in May by the MMA), no country has fully complied with the goals of reducing loss of biodiversity in their territories between 2002 and 2010.

The document is an official report of the Convention on Biological Diversity, established in 1992, and will guide discussions among leaders of nations participating in the Biodiversity Summit in Japan. This study shows that biodiversity loss is reaching a global level almost irreversible.

Between 1970 and 2006, the number of individuals of vertebrate species had a 30% decline in the world, and the trend, according to GBO3, is that the reduction will continue, especially among marine animals and tropical regions. To reverse the serious environmental damage, economic investment from about $ 45 billion per year around the planet would be needed.

The report points out the five main factors of pressure on biodiversity: habitat loss and degradation (converted to plantations, pasture, and urban areas), climate change, pollution, overexploitation of natural resources and the presence of invasive alien species. According to the World Conservation Union, human action causes 0.2% of the loss of species every year, caused by fire, logging, hunting and wildlife trade.

Extraction without proper management and mining, among other factors of human intervention, are also causes of the growing process of extinction, due to the needs of a population of 6.5 billion people, which is expected to increase to 7 billion by 2012.

Brazilian example - There are other points in the document that UNEP considers critical. The Amazon is cited as an area subject to irreparable harm, in part driven by deforestation and forest fires, and also by dynamic changes in regional rainfall and species extinction.

Brazil is cited as an example with regard to the creation of protected areas (conservation units). Of the 700 square miles turned into protected areas around the world since 2003, almost three quarters are located in Brazilian soil, a result largely attributed to the Program of the Amazon Protected Areas.

The Brazilian Ministry of the Environment is negotiating with state governments and other ministries to create new protected areas: 54,280 hectares in the Cerrado Biome, 405,900 hectares in the Atlantic Forest, 600,000 hectares in Amazonia, 1,230,000 hectares in the Caatinga and 101,200 acres in the Coastal and Marine.

Another key strategy adopted by Brazil to combat deforestation and species extinction is the satellite monitoring of all biomes, a procedure which by 2008 was achieved only in the Amazon and in part of the Atlantic Forest.

Monitoring is a key initiative as it allows establishing action plans for monitoring, control and combating deforestation. Also included sustainable alternatives to the regions where deforestation is still practiced.

Exotic and invasive - Brazil launched in 2009 the National Strategy on Invasive Alien Species. The program guides the different spheres of government to prevent and mitigate the negative impacts of these species on the human population, the productive sectors, the environment and the biodiversity.

Currently, biological intrusion caused by alien invasive species is considered the second leading cause of loss of biodiversity on the planet, second only to habitat destruction. In Brazil, the costs of the impacts caused by these species are approximately $ 50 billion per year.

The Brazilian government has been updating lists of endangered Brazilian species, which serve as a warning and a tool for monitoring the policy for the conservation of these species.

RF