Today, December 4, 2016, in Cancun, Mexico, the simultaneous meeting of the 13th Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Second Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol, and the Eighth Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol was opened. (COP 13, COP/MOP2, COP/MOP 8). The conference is attended by 6400 delegates from over 180 countries around the world. For the first time in the history of the Convention, all three of these structures are meeting simultaneously. The central theme of the conference is intersectoral integration of biodiversity issues in the interests of well-being.
Before the Meeting of the Parties, a High-Level Segment meeting was held (December 2-3), which was attended by ministers of the environment, agriculture, tourism, fisheries, and forestry. The main task of this segment was to agree on the integration of biodiversity conservation issues into strategies for agricultural, tourism, forestry, and fisheries development, as well as to develop an intersectoral approach to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The governmental delegation from Kyrgyzstan was unable to attend. As a result of this segment’s work, a declaration was adopted, in which it was noted that countries commit to working at all levels and in all sectors to prioritize biodiversity issues through sectoral and intersectoral policies, plans and programs, as well as legal and administrative measures and budgets, including measures for the use, regulation, and restoration of biological diversity and ecosystems, integrating the values of biodiversity into national accounting and reporting systems, etc. Full text of the Declaration.
“The fight for the conservation of ecosystems is a fight for our lives, souls, and the lives of future generations,” said newly elected Secretary of the Convention, Christiana Palmer from Romania. In this regard, discussions are ongoing within the conference. There is no doubt that biodiversity, namely ecosystems, is the foundation for sustaining life on Earth (including in climate regulation, air quality, soil, etc.). It was noted that, despite the efforts of countries, we are witnessing increasing degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems. The unprecedented changes in the environment, including climate change and the decline in the number of species, particularly the sharp decline in the number of pollinators, pose significant risks to the standard of living and threaten hunger for many communities. A major problem remains crime in the field of biodiversity. According to Interpol, over 200 billion US dollars are currently circulating in this sector, primarily in wildlife and timber trade in developing countries.
The main intrigue within the work of the Cartagena Protocol Parties focuses on the regulation of biosynthetic substances and synthetic biology, risk assessment, and management. In the context of the Nagoya Protocol, it is planned to discuss a Facilitation Mechanism for regulating access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits and exchanging information on these issues, as well as measures to raise awareness of the importance of genetic resources and related traditional knowledge.
The Meeting of the Parties will continue until December 17 of this year and will create a platform for further two years of Convention work. Unfortunately, among the governmental delegations from the CIS region, only a few countries are currently represented, including Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Moldova.
Currently, a representative from the Ecological Movement BIOM – Anna Kirilenko is participating in the conference from Kyrgyzstan, and can be contacted for additional information (annakir7@gmail.com WhatsApp +996707980555).
