(i) Biodiversity is being lost at rates unprecedented in human history;
(ii) Losses of biodiversity and decline of ecosystem services constitute a
concern for human well-being, especially for the well-being of the poorest;
(iii) The costs of biodiversity loss borne by society are rarely assessed, but
evidence suggests that they are often greater than the benefits gained through
ecosystem changes;
(iv) The drivers of loss of biodiversity and the drivers of change in ecosystem
services are either steady, show no evidence of declining over time, or are
increasing in intensity;
(v) Many successful response options have been used, but further progress in
addressing biodiversity loss will require additional actions to address the
main drivers of biodiversity loss; and
(vi) Unprecedented additional efforts will be required to achieve, by 2010, a
significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss at all levels;
(d) Notes the key messages contained in the Biodiversity Synthesis Report
(UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/11/INF/22);
(e) Noting that the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment finds that the
degradation of ecosystem services could significantly increase during the first
half of this century, and is a barrier to achieving the Millennium Development
Goals, and that, at the same time, many of the actions being undertaken to
promote economic development and reduce hunger and poverty could contribute to
the loss of biodiversity, emphasizes that the Millennium Development
Goals, the 2010 target of significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss,
and other internationally agreed targets related to biodiversity, environmental
sustainability and development need to be pursued in an integrated manner;
(f) Noting the new and significant evidence presented in the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, urges Parties, other Governments and relevant
organizations to strengthen their efforts and take the measures necessary to
meet the 2010 target adopted in the Strategic Plan of the Convention, and the
goals and subtargets annexed to decision VII/30, taking into account the
special needs, circumstances and priorities of developing countries, in
particular the least developed countries and small island developing States
among them, and countries with economies in transition;
(g) Invites the financial mechanism, in coordination with the
Executive Secretary, to identify gaps and needs in relation to existing
financial resources to meet the unprecedented additional efforts needed to
significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss and maintain the provision
of ecosystem goods and services;
(h) Noting the finding of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment that an
increase in average global temperature of two degrees or more above
pre-industrial temperatures will give rise to globally significant impacts on
ecosystems, with significant consequences for livelihoods, urges Parties
and other Governments, where appropriate, to meet their commitments under,
and to take cognizance of, the provisions of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, in order
to avoid dangerous impacts;
(i) Mindful that the loss of biodiversity is continuing, and recognizing the
inertia in ecological systems and in the drivers of biodiversity loss and
therefore the need for longer-term targets, decides to consider, at
its ninth meeting, the need to review and update targets as part of the
process of revising the Strategic Plan beyond 2010;
(j)
Recognizes that the main drivers of biodiversity loss differ
among regions and countries;
(k) Decides to consider the findings of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment in the implementation and the future review of the programmes of
work under the Convention;
(l) Notes
in particular the urgent need to address the
issues which the Assessment finds most significant at the global level in terms
of their impacts on
biodiversity and consequences for human well-being,
such as:
(i) Land use change and other habitat transformation;
(ii) The consequences of over-fishing;
(iii) Desertification and degradation in dry and sub-humid lands;
(iv) The multiple drivers of change to inland water ecosystems;
(v) Increasing nutrient loading in ecosystems;
(vi) The introduction of invasive alien species; and
(vii) The rapidly increasing impacts of climate change;
(m) Aware of the inter-sectoral nature of many of these issues, urges
Parties to promote dialogue among different sectors to mainstream biodiversity,
at the regional and national levels including, when appropriate, through the
processes of the Convention, to address linkages between the conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity and, among others, international trade,
finance, agriculture, forestry, tourism, mining, energy and fisheries, in order
to contribute to the more effective implementation of the Convention, in
particular its Article 6;
(n) Recognizing that these issues are the concern of a number of other
international and regional conventions and processes, encourages Parties
to also address these issues within these other international conventions and
regional processes;
(o) Requests the Executive Secretary to bring the findings of the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to the attention of the liaison group of the
biodiversity-related conventions, and to other multilateral environmental
agreements and relevant international and regional processes, with a view to
explore options, as appropriate, for joint activities to successfully address
and respond to the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity loss;
(p) Aware also of the impacts of the inequalities in the use of resources
and the implications of this imbalance for the drivers of biodiversity loss, urges
Parties to change unsustainable patterns of production and consumption that
impact on biodiversity, taking into account the Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development, including, inter alia, the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities, as set out in Article 7 of the Rio
Declaration, as well as the provisions of the Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation;
(q) Aware also of the need to improve knowledge of trends in biodiversity, and
understanding of its value, including its role in the provision of ecosystem
services, as a means of improving decision-making at global, regional, national
and local levels, and also recognizing cross-scale interactions in ecosystems, urges
Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations, including scientific
bodies, to increase support for and coordinate research, inter alia, to
improve: basic knowledge and understanding of biodiversity and its
components; monitoring systems; measures of biodiversity; biodiversity
valuation; models of change in biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and
ecosystem services; and understanding of thresholds;
(r) Requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with relevant
organizations, taking into account the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
scenarios, to develop proposals for the consideration of the Subsidiary Body on
Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice on appropriate regionally-based
response scenarios within the framework of the Convention's programmes of work,
and to coordinate these efforts with other international and regional
organizations involved with work on scenarios;
(s) Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and
Technological Advice to take note in its deliberations of the linkages between
biodiversity and relevant socio-economic issues and analysis, including
economic drivers of biodiversity change, valuation of biodiversity and its
components, and of the ecosystem services provided, as well as biodiversity's
role in poverty alleviation and achieving the Millennium Development Goals;
(t) Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and
Technological Advice and invites Parties to draw upon the lessons
learned from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment process, including the
sub-global assessments, and to make use as appropriate of its conceptual
framework and methodologies in further developing work on environmental impact
assessment, strategic environmental assessment and the ecosystem approach;
(u) Requests the Executive Secretary to draw upon relevant information
from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in the preparation of future editions
of the Global Biodiversity Outlook and meeting documentation;
(v) Invites Parties and the Executive Secretary to use all relevant
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports in strengthening dialogue with other
stakeholders, including the private sector;
(w) Encourages Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations to
make use, as appropriate, of the methodologies and conceptual framework of the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment;
(x) Emphasizes the need for contributions of Parties, other Governments
and relevant organizations for capacity-building to support integrated
ecosystem assessment and improvement of knowledge and understanding about
trends in biodiversity, ecosystem goods and services and human well-being,
through the provision of adequate resources and the dissemination of findings,
methodologies and procedures of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, especially
in developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small
island developing States among these, and countries with economies in
transition
(y) Requests the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and
Technological Advice and the Executive Secretary to contribute to the
evaluation of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, due to be undertaken during
2007 by the institutions represented on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Board, focusing in particular on the impact of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment on implementation of the Convention at global, regional, national
and local levels;
(z)
Decides to consider, at its ninth meeting, the evaluation of
the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to be undertaken during 2007, and the need
for another integrated assessment of biodiversity and ecosystems, taking into
account the future plans of the Global Biodiversity Outlook, as well as the
outcomes of the current and future processes of the UNEP Global Environment
Outlook, and scientific assessments that may be undertaken by the Subsidiary
Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice;
(aa) Also
decides to consider, at its ninth meeting, taking into
account the results of other relevant processes, options for improving
availability to the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological
Advice of scientific information and advice on biodiversity.
