Breathe! It's Cop-10 on Biodiversity!

COP 10 Nagoya: An epiphany on Biodiversity

and for all forms of biological life?

Some concrete plans this time?

Any expectation of not doing as bad as former

climate change talks held in Copenhagen?

"The Earth's biological resources are vital to humanity's economic and social development. As a result, there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to present and future generations. At the same time, the threat to species and ecosystems has never been so great as it is today. Species extinction caused by human activities continues at an alarming rate."

Japan is the host 18th to 29th of October 2010 in Nagoya, of the Tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The tenth Conference of Parties (COP10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is particularly important during the International Year of Biodiversity. The objectives of the conference in Nagoya are:

- adopting a protocol on access to genetic resources

- sharing the benefits arising from their use

- setting new global targets for the preservation of biodiversity.

For two weeks, delegates at the 10th meeting (COP10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity will work on a 20 items plan for the next decade in Nagoya Japan. The talks are said crucial to sustaining the future of any form of life and nature on Earth. Until now a constant failure of governments and parties which failed to agree with previous targets set out in 2002.

"Nearly a third of the planet's 52,000 species assessed for extinction are under threat due to habitat loss, and a third of the world's 6,285 known amphibians are now in danger of extinction, Japan Times writes in today's edition." http://bit.ly/caTPfW

The U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a legally-binding treaty consisting of 193 members or "Parties" (192 governments plus the European Union). It was set up at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and came into force in December 1993. Its stated aims are to conserve and sustain biodiversity, while trying to promote a "fair and equitable" sharing of benefits made from plant and animal life.

Now what is the target number 1? Nagoya delegates are to agree a new 20-point Strategic Plan for the next decade (2011- 2020) setting new targets for conservation and sustainable uses of Biodiversity.

The European Union and France in Nagoya, what for? Quotes: "The EU and France wish to obtain concrete and visible results that will shape the outline of international action for biodiversity in the coming years. France supports the adoption of a protocol on access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits arising from their use, this is in line with the European Union plan. This protocol, which covers genetic resources but also the knowledge associated with these resources held by indigenous and local communities, would then base the international rules of a market for genetic resources. The benefits of this market should be reinvested in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. France, as a country providing genetic resources (held in a special status within the European Union), will continue the discussions initiated at national level on the implementation of arrangements overseas and metropolis. For France, finally, the priority will be to secure the establishment of a mechanism for science-policy interface on biodiversity worldwide (IPBES), whose advances are promising."

Needless to see here the considerable impact of all Biodiversity discussions as they are directly commanding or related to international relations as commentator William Pfaff wrote in the International Herald Tribune in the past years.

"It's Government by and for U.S. Corporations and Their Values."

International Herald Tribune 18 January 2001

"The West's Globalization Drive is Proving a Massive Failure."

International Herald Tribune, 29 September 2000

COP 10 is held in the Toyota automobiles manufacturer 'Empire', the Nagoya Aichi prefecture in central Japan. Convention web-page http://www.cbd.int/

Sources: Reporter's Notes, CBD, Japan Times, foncier.mobi, William Pfaff IHT.