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At its seventh meeting in February 2004, the Conference
of the Parties adopted the Addis Ababa Principles and
Guidelines for the Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity
and related recommendations (annex to decision VII/12
on Sustainable Use). The Addis Ababa Principles and
Guidelines (AAPG) for the Sustainable use of Biodiversity
consist of fourteen interdependent practical principles
and related operational guidelines that should govern
the uses of components of biodiversity to ensure the
sustainability of such uses. The principles provide
a framework to assist Governments, resource managers,
indigenous and local communities, the private sector
and other stakeholders on how to ensure that their use
of the components of biodiversity will not lead to the
long-term decline of biological diversity.
The Seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties
also identified some of the first steps to be carried
out by Governments and other organizations to assist
with the implementation of the AAPG, and invited them
to integrate and mainstream the principles into a range
of measures including policies, programmes and national
legislation that regulate the use of biodiversity. Requests
were made to the Secretariat to ensure that more work
and studies are undertaken to facilitate the implementation
of the principles, in particular by further exploring
issues such as the use of terms for sustainable use,
adaptive management, indicators and sustainable use,
ecosystem service assessment and the costs and benefits
associated with the conservation and sustainable use
of biodiversity, and to organize a series of training
workshops that would assist with the implementation
of the principles.
These requests made by the CoP7 could be synthesized
through this series of actions verbs, as follows:
- Integrate and Mainstream: Parties are invited to
integrate and mainstream the AAPG into a range of
measures including policies, programmes, national
legislation and other regulations (paragraph 2(a)).
- Clarify and Consolidate: The Executive Secretary
is requested to further work on issues pertaining
to the use of terms for sustainable use (paragraph
5).
- Research and Explore: Parties are invited to undertake
research on a number of issues and analyze case-studies
and existing literature on sustainable use consistent
with practical principle 6 of the AAPG (paragraph
6).
- Collect and Share: The Executive Secretary is invited
to collect information and experiences on successful
efforts (paragraph 4) and disseminate information
through the clearing-house mechanism (paragraph 2(b)).
- Train: The Executive Secretary is requested to organize
a series of four workshops on ecosystem services assessment,
financial costs and benefits associated with conservation
of biodiversity, and sustainable use of biological
resources (paragraph 5).
- Assist: Parties and the private sector are invited
to develop and transfer technologies and provide financial
support for the implementation of the AAPG (paragraph
8).
As the focus of the Convention shifts from policy development
to its implementation, decision VII/12 of the Conference
of the Parties plays an essential role in guiding the
process towards putting the AAPG into operation.
The Principles and Guidelines are based on the assumption
that indeed it is possible to use biodiversity components
in a manner in which ecological processes, species and
genetic variability remain above thresholds needed for
long-term viability, and thus all resource managers
and users have the responsibility to ensure that that
use does not exceed these capacities. It is therefore
crucial that the biodiversity in ecosystems is maintained,
or in some cases recovered, to ensure that those ecosystems
are capable of sustaining the ecological services on
which both biodiversity and people depend.
In this context, the Guidelines are yet another tangible
tool in keeping with the commitment of Parties to the
Convention to focus on its practical implementation
and the target to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction
in the current rate of biodiversity loss, which is at
the heart of the Convention's strategic plan.
Paola Deda works for the Secretariat of the Convention
on Biological Diversity: Email paola.deda biodiv.org
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