Europeans Seek Funds and Political Will to Save Biodiversity

LAKE PLITVICE NATIONAL PARK, Croatia, February 27, 2006 (ENS) - The loss of biological diversity continues to accelerate throughout Europe, officials from 40 European governments and 32 environmental organizations concluded Friday after a three day meeting at one of Europe's oldest protected sites - Lake Plitvice National Park. Linking conservation of biodiversity with economic benefits to Europeans was viewed as key to stopping this loss.

During the 1990s in Europe, participants learned, an area of about 7,750 square kilometers (2,993 square miles) was paved for roads, car parks, shopping centers and other buildings, reducing the area of habitat available for wild animals and plants.

Participants at the Fourth Intergovernmental Biodiversity in Europe Conference acknowledged the need to redouble their efforts if they are to achieve the goal agreed in 2003 of halting the decline in Europe's biological diversity by the year 2010.

Never before in human history has the rate of biodiversity loss been so great. The rate of loss of biodiversity now exceeds 100 times natural rates, according to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which says humans are changing environments to the point that no single species will be spared.

Faced with this reality, 110 Heads of States and Governments committed themselves, in 2002, at the second earth summit in Johannesburg, to "achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on earth." This was reconfirmed by 154 Heads of States at the 2005 Summit at UN Headquarters in New York.

Major obstacles to achieving this goal include a shortage of public funding, the low ranking of biodiversity as a political priority, and climate change, which by altering the conditions of life for a species can undermine its ability to survive.

Croatia's Plitvica Lakes National Park (Photo by V. Pfeifer from I. Brailic's book on the National Parks of Croatia)

The participants stressed the need to inform people about the many economic benefits of Europe's biodiversity and landscape, including those deriving from tourism, food production, flood control, health and cultural identity.

The conference was opened by Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader who said that his country is following the European model and has laid the foundations for harmonizing the interests of ecology and the economy.

In an effort to harmonize those interests, Sanader said Croatia expects assistance and cooperation from all sectors of the public, including nongovernmental organizations and business entities, which are and must be equal partners in the process.

Croatian Minister of Culture Bozo Biskupic said that although crowded and economically developed, Europe has a diverse landscape and a rich heritage of plants, animals and ecosystems whose survival is critical to our own future well-being.

Participants at the meeting agreed to step up regional cooperation and strengthen partnerships with the forestry, agriculture and other economics-driven sectors.

One of the key success stories highlighted at the meeting is the ongoing development of a Pan European Ecological Network. Participants also welcomed initiatives by a number of banks to establish European biodiversity investment funds.

A highlight of the meeting was the first donation of art to the new Museum of Culture and Nature of the Convention on Biological Diversity, a painting by Tihomir Loncar, an artist famous in Croatia.

Croatian Prime Minister Dr. Ivo Sanader and Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the donation ceremony for the CBD Museum on Nature and Culture. (Photo courtesy Government of Croatia)

Biskupic stated that "as one of the most biodiversity-rich countries, we are very pleased to be the first country in the world to contribute to this innovative project and to offer a painting of nature by a famous Croatian artist, whose work is a contemplative prayer for salvation and the protection of nature."

Conclusions reached at the European conference will be forwarded to next month's meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is expected to welcome some 2,000 delegates from around the world to in Curitiba, Brazil March 20-31.

Dr. Djoghlaf announced that other countries intend to make contributions of art during the ministerial segment of the Curitiba conference, to be attended by than 100 environment ministers from around the world. They will discuss biodiversity in relation to sustainable development and the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The pan-European alliance Countdown 2010, facilitated by the IUCN-World Conservation Union, is coordinating the preparation of the 2010 Global Biodiversity Forum which will take place in Curitiba March 24 and 25 in parallel with the official Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

This multi-stakeholder dialogue, will focus on means how to significantly reduce the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

Four main themes have been identified for the 2010 Global Biodiversity Forum - raising finance, measuring progress, national and regional implementation, and linking biodiversity to the Millennium Development Goals.

"This Forum provides an ideal vehicle to share success stories around the 2010 biodiversity target and to move toward implementation," said Sebastian Winkler, Head of Countdown 2010.

Anyone who has ideas on how to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target can participate in the Virtual Curitiba Biodiversity Conference, an online consultation process that will gather opinions on how to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target and contribute them to the 2010 Biodiversity Forum.

To overcome language barriers, a special effort has been made to set up six parallel conferences in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Russian.

Visit: Virtual Curitiba Biodiversity Conference at: http://2010.biodiv.org. Click on "Join the conference" to create your user account. Click on "Go to the discussions" to start posting your views by answering one of the four questions or to complement a previous comment posted by someone else.