13/09/2010
Secretariat of the Convention
on Biological Diversity / United Nations
Environment Programme
The heads and representatives of five international
conventions on biodiversity and major conservation
organizations agreed to a common approach
to address the biodiversity crisis, based
on the Strategic Plan of the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD).
At a retreat at Chateau
de Bossy (Switzerland), the Secretary-General
of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the
Secretary-General of the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES), the Executive Secretary
of the Convention on Migratory Species,
the representative of the World Heritage
Convention and the Executive Secretary of
the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed
that the Strategic Plan for the period 2011-2020
to be adopted at the tenth meeting of the
Conference of the Parties of the Convention
on Biological Diversity, to be held next
month in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, should serve
as a common framework for action over the
next ten years.
The need to work under
the common framework of the 2011-2020 Strategic
Plan and to identify the financial resources
to support it was also agreed at a meeting
with the head of the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The meeting
agreed to build on the already considerable
collaboration between the Convention on
Biological Diversity and IUCN.
"These gatherings
of the biodiversity family here in Geneva
have reinforced our common conviction that
at this crucial time in history, more than
ever we need to work under a common framework",
said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary
of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
"The consensus on the Strategic Plan
that we saw emerge at the Nairobi meetings
is reinforced here and will help carry the
day in Nagoya."
Further information is at http://www.cbd.int/cop10/.
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President Lula launches
plan to preserve the Cerrado Biome
15/09/2010
The Federal Government launches today (September
15), in Brasília, the Action Plan
to Prevent and Control Deforestation and
Wildfires in the Cerrado Biome (PPCerrado).
The result of a joint
effort involving nine ministries and the
Civil House, the new plan is the political
framework for the conservation and sustainable
use of the most threatened biome in Brazil.
Similar to the PPCDAm
(Action Plan to Prevent and Control Deforestation
in the Legal Amazon, which reduced by more
than 63% deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest
in the last ten years), the PPCerrado aims
to curb the destruction of the Brazilian
savannah - one of the most rich in biodiversity
on the planet.
Up to now, the territory
of 2 million square kilometers, spread across
nine Brazilian states, has lost 47% of its
original forest cover. At the conference
of the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP-15),
held in Copenhagen in late 2009, Brazil
committed to reduce by 40% emissions of
greenhouse gases from deforestation in this
biome.
