Nagoya Biodiversity summit concludes with relative success

The two-week COP10 Biodiversity conference in Nagoya, Japan has ended with the 192 participating nations agreeing to a 20-point strategic plan aimed at arresting biodiversity and habitat loss within a decade. Nations have also accepted guidelines regarding the allocation of benefits garnered from the use of genetic resources.

The result of the protracted talks is a set of objectives named the Aichi Targets. Under these targets, participating nations pledge to at least halve the loss of natural habitats as well as expanding protecting nature reserves to 17 per cent of the world's land area by 2020-up from around 10 per cent today.

Nations will now begin voluntarily drawing up national biodiversity plans aimed at mitigating over-fishing, reducing pollution, minimising the effects of ocean acidification on coral reefs as well as arresting the loss of genetic diversity within agricultural ecosystems.

The Aichi Targets will also oversee the widening of marine protected zones to around 10 per cent of the world's oceans. This indicates a significant rise from around only one per cent of the ocean currently protected.

While there are fears that these ambitious targets are currently under-funded, the talks are believed to have overcome the frictions which plagued the talks at the UN conference in Copenhagen last year. Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said,

"This is a day to celebrate in terms of a new and innovative response to the alarming loss of biodiversity and ecosystems … It is an important moment for the United Nations and the ability of countries to put aside the narrow differences that all too often divide in favour of the broader, shared issues that can united peoples and nations."

Indeed, the issue of access and benefit sharing (ABS) had fractured the talks earlier in the week and threatened to hinder any chance of multilateral agreements being made.

The adoption of an ABS Protocol would aim to determine exactly how companies gain access and distribute profits from resources and profits gathered in developing countries-potentially causing major issues for global pharmaceutical companies.

Contributing nations also managed to agree upon the Nagoya Protocol, which will establish ground rules on how nations should go about sharing the benefits of genetic resources. Governments will now begin considering ways in which to reimburse developing nations for any resources or knowledge gained ready for when the protocol comes into effect in 2020.

It is possible this repayment will come in the form of a special fund, which could provide financial aid to conservation or scientific research centres.
Some developing nations voiced concerns over the new protocol. Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela and Equador all expressed unease over an ABS protocol which had "suffered many changes" over the two-week talks, having been "substantially diminished" thus denying developing nations a fair share of profit for their resources.

The same nations stated, however, that they would not stand in the way of the implementation of an international agreement.

Not every issue debated at the talks experienced a similar level of success. In spite of Japan's US$2 billion pledge on top of smaller donations from Britain and France, no clear agreement was made on financing the global mitigation of biodiversity loss. Jim Leape, director general of WWF International, said,

"We were disappointed that most rich countries came to Nagoya with empty pockets - unable or unwilling to provide the resources that will make it possible for the developing world to implement their ambitious targets."

"Participants may be leaving Nagoya, but they still need to be working to save life on this planet from Monday morning," said Jane Smart, head of the species programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Despite concerns, the accord reaffirms the fundamental need to arrest the destruction of natural habitats and agricultural ecosystems. Nations must act upon these initial agreements, however, if hopes offered by the talks are to be adequately realised.


Author: Tom Watts | Climate Action
Images: Tom & alKomor | Flickr