Showing papers on "Convention on Biological Diversity published in 1994"

Defining ‘Evolutionarily Significant Units’ for conservation

Abstract: writing in the first issue of TREE, Ryder’ brought the term ‘Evolutionarily Significant Unit’ (ESU) to the attention of a broad audience of ecologists and evolutionary biologists. The ESU concept was developed to provide a rational basis for prioritizing taxa for conservation effort (e.g. captive breeding), given that resources are limited and that existing taxonomy may not adequately reflect underlying genetic diversity*. With the explicit recognition of the genetic component of biodiversity in conservation legislation of many countries and in the Convention on Biological Diversity, the ESU concept is set to become increasingly significant for conservation of natural as well as captive populations.

A guide to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Chinese version)

Abstract: The Convention on Biological Diversity is an historic committment by the world's nations to conserve biological diversity, to use biological resources sustainably and to share equitably the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. It is the first global legal instrument to comprehensivly address all aspects of biological diversity. The guide illustrates the scientific, technical and legal issues which the Convention raises. Designed as a reference document, the guide's table of contents, pagination, index and commentary cross-references give the reader easy access to the book's comprehensive rendering of what could be involved in fulfilling the obligations of the Convention. There is also a detailed bibliography. The introduction provides a concise general overview of the Convention's character, its origin and history and major issues covered. The Convention's provisions are then explained article by article, 23 boxes include background information on such topics as the importance of biological diversity; national biodivesity strategies; biotechnology; environmental impact assessment; technology transfer; and intellectual property rights. It suggests options for implementing the Convention, in many instances drawing on existing environmental policy documents and action plans including the World Conservation Strategy, Caring for the earth, the Global Biodiversity Strategy and Agenda 21. Written in an objective, easily understandable and accessible style, the guide is indipensable reading for anyone desiring information on the Convention on biological diversity and possible steps for its implementation.

A guide to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Abstract: The Convention on biological diversity is an historic committment by the world's nations to conserve biological diversity, to use biological resources sustainably and to share equitably the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. It is the first global legal instrument to comprehensivly address all aspects of biological diversity. The guide illustrates the scientific, technical and legal issues which the Convention raises. Designed as a reference document, the guide's table of contents, pagination, index and commentary cross-references give the reader easy access to the book's comprehensive rendering of what could be involved in fulfilling the obligations of the Convention. There is also a detailed bibliography. The introduction provides a concise general overview of the Convention's character, its origin and history and major issues covered. The Convention's provisions are then explained article by article, 23 boxes include background information on such topics as the importance of biological diversity; national biodivesity strategies; biotechnology; environmental impact assessment; technology transfer; and intellectual property rights. It suggests options for implementing the Convention, in many instances drawing on existing environmental policy documents and action plans including the World Conservation Strategy, Caring for the earth, the Global Biodiversity Strategy and Agenda 21. Written in an objective, easily understandable and accessible style, the guide is indipensable reading for anyone desiring information on the Convention on biological diversity and possible steps for its implementation.

A Multilateral System for Plant Genetic Resources: Imperatives, Achievements and Challenges

Abstract: Better use of plant genetic resources is critical to meeting the challenges of increasing food production and of alleviating poverty. All countries depend on plant genetic resources originating beyond their borders, which means that international cooperation is essential to secure continued access to these resources. International agreements are also necessary to guarantee their conservation. Both aims can be achieved only if there is an effective mechanism for sharing benefits with the countries that maintain these resources. This paper concludes that a multilateral system, within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, is required to guarantee these objectives. Because of the importance of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and their millennia- old history of evolution and exchange between and within farming cultures, they deserve special attention in the international debate on biodiversity. For agriculture, a multilateral approach is preferable, but can co-exist with bilateral arrangements for other uses. The paper argues that in addition to national conservation efforts, there is a continuing need for international collections, maintained on behalf of the world community, such as those housed in the CGIAR centres. Furthermore, there is a need for a set of international agreements and cooperation mechanisms under a common legal framework, as well as an intergovernmental policy forum and an international fund. This would guarantee conservation of, and access to, plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and ensure the sharing of benefits. Broadening of plant breeding strategies is also required to allow the strengthening of linkages between conservation and development, and to ensure that benefits reach the farmers who continue to maintain and develop genetic resources.

Material Transfer Agreements in Genetic Resources Exchange - the Case of the International Agricultural Research Centres

Abstract: The Convention on Biological Diversity, which provides incentives for countries to exercise sovereign rights over genetic resources in their territories, has led several countries to develop policies and strategies governing the conservation and use of genetic diversity, including conditions for its release. A system is required to facilitate the unhindered movement of genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their use. This publication, a contribution to the debate on these issues, suggests mechanisms by which these objectives might be achieved.

Compensation for Use of Biological Resources under the Convention on Biological Diversity: Compatibility of Conservation Measures and Competitiveness of the Biotechnology Industry

Abstract: I. Introduction In a dramatic reversal, the United States on June 4, 1993, signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (Biodiversity Convention or the Convention), an agreement aimed at conserving the diversity of plant and animal life.(1) Exactly one year before, the United States was the only nation at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to decline to sign the Biodiversity Convention.(2) UNCED, popularly known as the Earth Summit, was the largest gathering of world leaders in history, with representatives of 178 nations in attendance at the meeting held in Rio de Janeiro.(3) Although world leaders agreed that the environment is an international issue of paramount importance, the accords reached on both climate change and biodiversity fell short of obtaining commitments to strong measures necessary to combat these problems.(4) Disagreements were particularly sharp along North/South lines. Perhaps because of such divisiveness, the Biodiversity Convention provides only a broad framework for international interaction, and leaves open many specifics as to how it will be implemented. U.S. participation in the Biodiversity Convention represents an important step in international cooperation to protect biodiversity. Likewise, it presents an opportunity to refine the agreement. The United States and other developed nations generally objected to economic provisions of the Biodiversity Convention that required substantial financial commitment, either by direct financial contribution(5) or by shifting the balance in the exchange of resources and technology.(6) Moreover, many viewed the Convention's commitments for protecting biodiversity as inadequate.(7) To state their position with regard to ambiguous provisions, and as a means of gaining an appropriate implementation of the Biodiversity Convention, some developed countries issued interpretive statements on the Convention's financial and intellectual property provisions.(8) The United States also intends to issue such a statement.(9) Thus, in signing the Convention, the United States may clarify the interpretation of ambiguous provisions which previously stood in the way of its signing the Convention, and, at the same time, strengthen the Convention's environmental measures. One aspect of the Biodiversity Convention that prompted considerable U.S. opposition was its requirement of compensation for the use of biological resources and transfer of biotechnology.(10) These provisions were designed to address the economic situations of the developing countries as well as to facilitate sustainable development and preservation of biodiversity. These provisions are vague, and, according to some interpretations, could impair the development and international competitiveness of commercial biotechnology already under way in developed nations.(11) If so, the impact of these provisions would fall disproportionately on the United States, because it leads the world in commercialization of this technology.(12) The biotechnology industry is viewed as a key element of future technological and economic development in the United States.(13) Modern biotechnologies like genetic engineering are expected to have a major effect on medicine, agriculture, and the environment. Biotechnology is an important factor in the international competitiveness of related businesses, such as the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries.(14) Thus, the adoption of policies that promote the development and competitiveness of this industry has rightly been viewed as a national priority.(15) This Note explores the Biodiversity Convention's biotechnology provisions, addressing their impact on developing and developed countries, the biotechnology industry, and the preservation of biodiversity. As a preliminary matter, the Note presents the extensive global loss of biodiversity that is currently occuring, and the aesthetic, environmental, and economic reasons for minimizing further loss. …

A review of country case studies on climate change

Abstract: Country case studies are important instruments for determining national climate policies and for adding to the global knowledge on climate issues. They are also the basis for examining the obligations of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), and for developing and assessing projects eligible for financing by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). These country studies must be comparable to allow the GEF to choose effectively between potential investments in the nations being assessed. Comparisons of ecological and economic efficiency are especially important. As many of the studies are not yet complete, the focus of this review is on workplans, terms of reference, and underlying assumptions and parameters used in their development. This review and assessment is, therefore, built on a few studies and terms of reference. While an in-depth study of all the issues mentioned was not possible, it is hoped that this exercise will further the discussion and the development of more comparable methodologies for future studies.

The biodiversity convention: more losers than winners

Abstract: The most important of the provisions of the UNCED Convention on Biological Diversity, and one which has received the greatest attention, relates to the control of and access to plant genetic resources. The Convention lays down that the plant genetic resources are the national heritage of the country in whose territory they are found and has placed them under the sovereign control of individual states. Thus, access of other states to plant genetic resources will have to be negotiated on mutually agreed terms. The Convention also calls for the results of research and development, and the benefits arising from the commercial and other utilization of plant genetic resources, to be shared in a fair and equitable way with the country which provided these resources in the first place.

Reforming the approach of the Global Environmental Facility to biodiversity conservation

Abstract: Biodiversity – a measure of the wealth of species, ecosystems and ecological processes that make up our living planet –received public prominence as a result of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The loss of biodiversity, say the authors, is the greatest environmental problem the world faces but the issue has not been given the attention it deserves. With the emergence of the Global Environmental Facility in 1990 came the chance to fund biodiversity conservation on a unprecedented scale and in 1992 the GEF was adopted as the interim funding mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity signed at the Earth Summit. Three years after its foundation, the authors of this paper suggest that the GEF has to be reformed radically if it is to become an effective force in conservation. Their conclusions are based on Conservation International's experience with the GEF over the last 3 years in more than 10 countries.

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING Biological Inventories and Computer Data Bases: Their Role in Environmental Assessments

Abstract: An important goal of biological inventories is to provide information for environmental assessments of development projects and biodiversity conservation. Likewise, computer data bases have been proposed for efficient compilation and management of biological information. However, the attributes of biological inventories and computer data bases have not been examined with respect to environmental assessments. This article presents a case study in Mexico to analyze the current limitations of biological inventories for successful environmental assessments and biodiversity conservation in developing countries. Results demonstrate that, considering the objectives of environmental assessments and information constraints, computerized biological inventories should be assembled with a minimum of record fields: taxonomic data and georeferenced collection localities. Furthermore, it is proposed that environmental assessments should become a feedback to biological inventories and an important financial support to universities and research institutions in developing countries. The Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992 (UNEP 1992) declared that environmental assess- ments (EAs), biological inventories, and computer data bases are indispensable for biodiversity conserva- tion. It has also been stated that computer data bases will make existing data readily available for establish- ing conservation and development policies and for optimization of scarce human and financial resources (Sould and Kohm 1989, Brown and Roughgarden 1990, McNeely and others 1990, Anonymous 1991, Coddington and others 1991). Consequently, governments all over the world and multinational development banks (MDBs) are imple- menting procedures aimed at integrating conserva- tion priorities within regional development. Such in- tegration can be achieved by locating, at the early stages in planning, areas with the greatest potential for conflict between conservation and resource ex- traction (Blockstein 1990). EAs are comprehensive planning studies to assess the effects of development projects. They are ex- pected to use biological inventories to provide base-

A Research Agenda for Global Change in Finland: Research Priorities for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity

Abstract: Global environmental problems in connection with the concept of global change were until recently understood mainly as environmental pollution, depletion of ozone layer and global warming of the earth’s atmosphere (e.g. Liukkonen and Tennberg 1990). The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) resulted in the Convention on Biological Diversity and familiarized the public with the concept of biodiversity. It brought biodiversity unquestionably onto the agenda at the international political level, too (e.g. Miller and Barber 1992, Tennberg 1993). More than 150 countries signed the Convention, which emphasizes the need to develop national plans or programmes for the conservation and sustainable use ofinventories and monitoring of components of biodiversity and of processes having an adverse impact both within and outside protected areas. The Convention also commits signatories to take action in favour of restoration of degraded ecosystems and recovery of threatened species. As a complement to in situ conservation, development of ex situ mechanisms is necessary in certain extreme cases. Furthermore, the Convention emphasizes powerfully the promotion of research and public awareness as well as the integration of biodiversity concerns into national decision-making.

A profile of the pilot phase biodiversity investment portfolio

Abstract: Projects in the GEF pilot phase biodiversity investment portfolio reflect the emergence of a two-pronged strategy to help developing countries strengthen their biodiversity conservation efforts: a) Foundation-Building: establishing a foundation of institutional and human resource capacity to sustain biodiversity conservation actions over the long-term. b) Forming strategic coalitions of Government and Non-Government interests: to serve the country's conservation objectives and implement specific actions within the framework of national priorities and integrated project assistance, by utilizing their respective comparative advantages as agents of change. Projects in the pilot phase biodiversity investment portfolio are diverse in nature. The basis for the development of such portfolio of projects is a strategy to project diversity which is comprehensive and sustainable. Most of the projects lay a foundation which will provide a basis upon which countries can develop and implement strategic intervention over the long term. The implementation structure of projects in this portfolio demonstrates an innovative approach by bringing together groups into coalitions working together to project biodiversity. Success of project implementation is ensured by the participation at all levels by the wide range of groups and interests.