Parliamentarians are members of parliament or, in other words, representatives elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament. They are legislators and monitors of government policy at the national level, as well as the guardians of the public will and conscience as elected representatives of the population. More »

Background

The Convention has identified Parliamentarians as a major group since its inception and several resolutions from the Inter-Parliamentary Union concern biodiversity. More »

What's New

• 120 legislators from 38 Parties to the Convention participated in the Parliamentarians and Biodiversity Forum on October 25 and 26, 2010, co-organized by GLOBE International and its Japan chapter, and the Secretariat of the CBD. The Nagoya Parliamentarians Forum was opened by Mr. Naoto Kan, Prime Minister of Japan, and Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 2004. After productive discussions, participants adopted the Nagoya Declaration on Parliamentarians and Biodiversity (English version, also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish) (which offers their political support to the goals of the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan of the Convention and calls for a transition to a new global economy where biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural capital are integrated into policy making processes at all levels of government and the private sector) and the GLOBE Natural Capital Action Plan. After the endorsement, GLOBE International facilitated a high-level discussion with Mr Ryu Matsumoto MP, Minister of Environment, Japan, Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary, CBD, Mr Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP, Ms Monique Barbut, President and CEO, Global Environment Facility, Ms Inger Andersen, Vice President for Sustainable Development, World Bank, and Dr Pavan Sukhdev, Project Lead, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) Study.
• Parliamentarians issue Declaration in Support of Biodiversity Action at Bonn Conference, Bonn, 28 May 2008 — Calling the present level of biodiversity loss “unprecedented”, parliamentarians attending the Bonn Biodiversity Conference issued a declaration expressing renewed resolve to ensure that they take the necessary legislative and administrative actions to implement programmes to achieve the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• A High-level dialogue on the Role of Parliamentarians in Biodiversity Issues was held on 27 May 2008 at the margins of COP 9. Over 20 parliamentarians participated in the event which concluded on the adoption of the Bonn Declaration on Parliamentarians and Biodiversity. More »
• In preparation for COP-9, the European Parliament issued the European Parliament resolution of 24 April 2008 More »
• In March 2008, the Executive Secretary has called upon all Parties to nominate Parliamentarian delegates to participate in a meeting with the German parliamentarians on 27 May 2008 in order to further promote the role of parliamentarians in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use (see notification 2008-033)