Reiterating its resolve to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing, India, the new chair of 11th Conference of Parties (COP-11) on Convention on Biological Diversity, on Monday urged the member nations to agree on a road map on the issues adopted during COP-10 two years ago in Nagoya, Japan.
Addressing the inaugural session here at the HICC, Union minister for Environment and Forest Jayanthi Natarajan made an appeal to the largest ever congregation of 173 countries and 14,400 delegate strong COP-11 that the future generations will not forgive us if we fail to save the world’s depleting biodiversity.
“India fully supports the decisions taken at the recently concluded COP-MOP 6 on Bio Safety and the COP-11 is now the first step to achieve the Aichi targets and especially the issue of resource mobilisation,” she said. Agreeing that several countries were unable to secure resources to achieve targets due to the global financial crisis, she added “this should not interfere in the implementation of the Aichi targets and we must come out with a Hyderabad declaration by the end of COP-11.”
For a better tomorrow
Barolo Ferreira De Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD) said that countries must not consider saving biodiversity as an expenditure but as an investment for a bright future. “Ninety-two Parties to the Convention from all regions have signed the Nagoya Protocol, thus far, six Parties have deposited their instruments of ratification (Gabon, Jordan, Mexico, Rwanda, Seychelles and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic). I am aware that many other Parties are working on their national ratification processes and are expected to ratify in the near term,” Mr.Barolo said.
He said, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets will be central to CBD’s actions in this decade. “I am pleased to report that 25 Parties have made submissions on resources allocated to biodiversity from different funding sources. Additionally, we also need to put in place an effective and continuous monitoring system for the Aichi Targets, so as to be aware of whether we remain on track with regard to achieving the targets and inform our decisions accordingly.
Ms. Amina Mohamed, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UNEP, said , “Last but not least, I wish to reiterate the call to all parties to step up effort for the early ratification of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing.”
Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Matsumoto, former Minister of Environment of Japan and COP-10 President, also addressed the inaugural session.