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U.N.: new measures to protect planet’s biodiversity

In a sinking boat? A fisherman paddles a boat along the Xingu River, Brazil, in this recent photo. A proposed hydroelectric dam to be built on the river could harm biodiversity and displace 15,000 people. — PHOTO: AP

BERLIN: A major U.N. conference on biodiversity ended in Bonn on Friday with new measures to protect diverse species on Earth.

Among the outcomes of the two-week meeting were initiatives announced by countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bosnia and Brazil to earmark tens of millions of hectares for nature preserves. The host country, Germany, has launched an initiative to set up an internet-based “Life Web” to link countries offering protected areas with countries prepared to fund them.

Although the conference failed to establish rules to compensate developing nations for genetic resources extracted by rich nations for use in medicines and cosmetics, it has produced a plan for the negotiations of an agreement expected to be reached at the next biodiversity conference in Nagoya in 2010.

Delegates also agreed to take a more definitive stand on biofuels at the next round of talks in Nagoya and called for the development of sound policy frameworks on biofuels whose mass production may put strain on crop and forest land. The 191 participating countries also agreed on a de-facto ban on the practice of seeding the ocean with nutrients to encourage growth of algae in the hope of absorbing carbon dioxide. Opponents have argued the little-tested process has unknown risks which could damage marine life.

The conference also secured more financial support for forest protection, with Germany committing about $775 million over the next four years for this purpose. Norway also announced plans to spend 600 million euros on forest conservation annually for the next three years.

A major task of the ninth conference of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is to review the goals set in 2002 at the U.N. Earth Summit, which called for slowing the loss of biological diversity by 2010.

Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the CBD, said the world is losing plant and animal species at a rate between 100- 1000 times the natural extinction rates. The loss of species diminishes the genetic resources needed for medical advances, to assure a secure food supply, and to ensure that the world’s ecosystems can provide the necessary functions that are essential for life, he said. “We are less than two years from 2010, the year that Heads of State and Government determined to be the target for substantially reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity. These agreements — the Bonn Biodiversity Compact – if implemented expeditiously by all stakeholders, will go a long way to help us meet our goals,” he said.

Critics, however, argued that the meeting has failed to produce a clear roadmap to achieve the 2010 target. “I fear for the future of the convention unless something rather dramatic happens to it,” said Gordon Shepard, Policy Director of the World Wildlife Fund. — Xinhua

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