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The World Conservation Union

Created in 1948, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together 81 States, 113 government agencies, 850 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

The World Conservation Union is the world's largest environmental knowledge network and has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. The Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.

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IUCN Media Advisory
ACT NOW TO STOP WAVE OF EXTINCTIONS
The world’s governments have committed themselves to slow down the current loss of biodiversity by 2010. Now is the time to move to action, says the World Conservation Union to the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP8)

Background:

The world is facing the biggest ever extinction crisis – we are losing species at a rate that is 100 to 1,000 times higher than the estimated natural extinction rate.

There is one single species responsible for this massive extinction wave: human beings. It is in our hands to slow down this process. In fact, the world’s leaders have already agreed to do exactly that by 2010, by committing to the 2010 biodiversity target. Four years are left – it is high time for action.

From 20 - 31 March 2006, the world’s nations will meet under the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in Curitiba, Brazil to discuss strategies to reduce the current loss of biodiversity. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has one clear message to this 8th Conference of the Parties to the CBD: it urgently needs to move from commitments to action, to start implementing what it has agreed – with only four years left.

Key Issues:

The World Conservation Union has identified five key strategies to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target. Substantive decisions are expected at the CBD Conference on all of them.

  • Protection of the high seas: The high seas, covering 64 percent of the Earth’s surface, remain completely unprotected. Industrialized fishing fleets take advantage of this situation, putting at risk marine high seas biodiversity that is almost entirely unknown to us – only 0.0001 per cent of the deep-sea floor has been subject to biological investigations. Therefore, high seas marine protected areas of seamounts, cold water corals and sponge beds need to be established urgently, based on our current available knowledge. Seabed bottom trawling needs to be prohibited on an interim basis in the most vulnerable areas that are lacking protection.

  • Sustainable use of biological resources: harvesting timber or hunting wild animals for meat or fur happens every day and is essential for the livelihoods of millions of people. The problem, both for biodiversity and people, is overexploitation. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and its new methodologies to assess trends in species status can help to define levels of sustainable use of plant and animal species.

  • Who is allowed to use genetic resources and traditional knowledge for commercial purposes and how should the benefits be shared? Biopiracy – or, in more precise terms, the access to genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits will be a hot debate at the CBD Conference. The World Conservation Union believes that benefits of commercially-viable genetic resources must be shared equitably with countries of origin of these resources and with those local communities owning knowledge about their use.

  • Biodiversity – something for the Greens? The protection and sustainable use of biodiversity need to be integrated into the policies and practices of other sectors. The CBD needs to give a major impetus to mainstream biodiversity into the broader policy agenda – the conservation of the diversity of life depends on us all and vice versa.

  • Get involved: What does every city, region, country need to do to slow down the loss of biodiversity by 2010? The World Conservation Union has facilitated the development of the Countdown 2010 Initiative in Europe to help governments, the private sector and civil society to reach the 2010 biodiversity target, by identifying priority areas of action and raising awareness.

Press releases or news updates will be published during the conference at www.iucn.org and www.iucn.org/cbd.

Media Events:

The World Conservation Union will hold a series of events at the conference. The ones of most interest to the media would be:

20 Mar Update on high seas and deep seabed issues. IUCN- World Conservation Union
20 Mar Promoting Equitable, Efficient and Enforceable Implementation of the ABS Regime IUCN- Environmental Law Center
27 Mar Measuring Progress towards the 2010 Target IUCN- World Conservation Union
29 Mar Customary Law, Traditional Knowledge and the International Regime on ABS IUCN- World Conservation Union
Tbc Sustainable Use Indicators IUCN- World Conservation Union

Materials for the Media:

All relevant information, press releases, fact sheets, IUCN position papers and related material can be found at www.iucn.org/cbd.

Photos are available from Carolin Wahnbaeck at carolin.wahnbaeck@iucn.org

Spokespeople

  • Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General
  • Martha Chouchena-Rojas, IUCN Head of Policy, Biodiversity and International Agreements
  • Jeffrey A. McNeely, IUCN Chief Scientist
  • Various experts: IUCN will have a big delegation present at the CBD COP8, covering all the issues under negotiation. For interviews, please contact Carolin Wahnbaeck (contact details below).

For further information please contact:

Carolin Wahnbaeck, IUCN Media Relations Officer,
email: carolin.wahnbaeckiucn.org;
Tel: (until 21 March) +41 22 999 0127; (22-31 March): +55-41-84265485
   
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