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Ibrahim Thiaw, Acting Director General, IUCN |
Jesca Eriyo Hon, Minister of Water and Environment, Uganda |
Hugo Barrera, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, El Salvador |
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L-R: Kim Sean Yin, Secretary of State for the Environment, Cambodia; Jesca Eriyo, Minister of Water and Environment, Uganda; Brigitte Girardin, Minister for Cooperation, Development and the Francophonie, France; Ibrahim Thiaw, Acting Director General, IUCN; and Hugo Barrera, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, El Salvador
Three keynotes speakers presented viewpoints from the African, Meso-American and Asian regions. Jesca Eriyo, Ugandan State Minister for Environment, underlined the role of biodiversity in fulfilling Hugo Barrera, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources,
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Kim Sean Yin, Secretary of State for the Environment, Cambodia |
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Brigitte Girardin, Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophonie, France | |||||
Participants attending the conference |
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Brigitte Girardin, French Minister for Cooperation, Development and Francophonie, drew attention to the alarming rate of biodiversity loss as well as its relationship to global warming, species extinction, disturbed water cycles, erosion and desertification. Affirming
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L-R: Enrico Pironio, EC; Teresa Siricio Iro, Minister of Environment and Physical Development, Sudan; Walter Kennes, Directorate-General (DG) Development, EC, Achim Steiner; Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Abel Mamani, Minister of Water, Bolivia; Simon Brooks, European Investment Bank; Shri J.C. Kala, Indian Director General of Forests; and Oliver Consolo, European NGOs Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD)
Achim Steiner; Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) |
Hillary Masundire, University of Botswana, Chair, IUCN Commision on Ecosystem Management |
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Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), refuted the myth that cooperation donors and partner countries have no interest in biodiversity, and asserted that both must address the link between conservation and social and economic policy. To mainstream biodiversity in sustainable development, he said it must be linked with policies on climate change, infrastructure development, economic policy instruments such as green taxation, and markets and trade. He said that rational investment policies must include biodiversity.
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Hillary Masundire, Stressing the need to address causes of poverty rather than its effects, he highlighted biodiversity conservation as a route to poverty alleviation as well as the reverse. As remaining challenges he identified: building capacity; enhancing training; addressing quality as well as quantity; good governance; and engagement of civil society. He confronted claims that: development programmes that ignore environmental factors are not true development programmes; protected areas threaten biodiversity by confining protection to park areas; and non-environmental development activities such as agriculture cause the most damage to the environment.
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Teresa Siricio Iro, Minister of Environment and Physical Development, Sudan |
Abel Mamani, Minister of Water, Bolivia |
Walter Kennes, Directorate-General (DG) Development, EC |
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This roundtable was chaired by Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP. Presentations were followed by a discussion. Teresa Siricio Iro, Sudanese Minister of Environment and Physical Development, outlined her country’s legal environmental framework. Noting that poverty reduction is constrained by civil unrest and lack of resources, she drew attention to the signing of the Darfur agreement, which put and end to the conflict in southern
Abel Mamani, Minister of Water, Walter Kennes, Directorate-General (DG) Development, EC, highlighted the explicit recognition by the European Consensus on Development of environment and environmental mainstreaming as priority areas. He said the EU is increasing commitment to development cooperation, including through increased funding for environment and biodiversity issues. He noted that much remains unknown about the relationship between poverty alleviation and biodiversity, and called for enhanced capacity building.
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Shri J.C. Kala, Indian Director General of Forests |
Oliver Consolo, European NGOs Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD) |
Simon Brooks, European Investment Bank |
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Shri J.C. Kala, Indian Director General of Forests, called for stabilizing the world population and making sustainable development “the way of life” rather than the exception. He explained how biodiversity conservation can lead to improved quality of life and that success stories should be used to convince governments to invest more in biodiversity. Simon Brooks, Vice President, European Investment Bank (EIB), discussed ensuring biodiversity conservation in EIB projects. He said that beyond seeking to minimize damage to biodiversity with its projects, EIB can also be proactive and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IUCN to draw on its networks of experts. Olivier Consolo, Director, European NGOs’ Confederation for Relief and Development (CONCORD), addressed bridging four types of gaps between: different efforts undertaken by compartmentalized disciplines; intentions on paper versus actions on the ground; governments’ and institutions’ intentions versus civil society engagement; and standards of good governance applied to partner countries versus those applied to donors themselves.
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Related links
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Links to IISD RS coverage
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IISD RS coverage of the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-8)
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