Mobilization of funds to overcome financial crisis in implementation of the Aichi Biodiversity targets by 2020 will be the main topic of discussion at the Conference of Parties -11 (COP-11), which was inaugurated here on Monday.
The discussions will focus on raising the bar for overseas and national investment on conservation of biodiversity across the countries.
Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, information officer of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) David Ainsworth said, “Though some of the mechanisms for climate change can be counted towards achieving Aichi targets and pose the risk of double-counting, discussions on these mechanisms will take the centre-stage.”
There will be two working groups for COP-11 that will focus on different aspects of the Nagoya Protocol on biodiversity. Working group one will discuss the review of island biodiversity as the item on restoration of ecosystems. The second working group will focus on strategic planning for achievement of Aichi targets and progress so far. “The stress is on enablement rather than implementation at COP-11. The aim is to persuade countries to ratify the protocol so that it comes into effect,” Ainsworth added. Presently, the Nagoya protocol has been ratified by six countries and has to get on board 50 ratifications to come into force - a figure CBD expects to attain by mid-2013.
“Another 17 countries are likely to ratify the protocol by the end of this year,” executive director of CBD Braulio Ferreira De souza Dias said. Discussions on streamlining the national targets of biodiversity in accordance with global policy will be carried out in the sideline events.