Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Delegates at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan, reached agreement on a new Strategic Plan, the "Aichi Target", with 20 objectives for the year 2020. "This conference must be viewed as a success and a major global achievement," commented Russ Mittermeier of Conservation International. "We were able to solve the key issues that were blocking the negotiations and ended up with a strategic plan with 20 targets to protect biodiversity over the next decade." Some believe that it was Japan's announcement of US$2 billion in funding that re-energized the talks after they appeared to stall.

The objectives include a zero tolerance target for species extinction, a goal to protect 17 per cent of all inland water and terrestrial areas and 10 per cent of marine areas, restoration of 15 per cent of degraded ecosystems and reducing habitat loss by at least 50 per cent. A measure was adopted banning climate-related geo-engineering activities that may affect biodiversity until there is an adequate scientific basis on which to justify such activities and appropriate consideration of the associated risks and impacts. There is an exception for small-scale scientific research studies. Agreement was also reached on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), which aims to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. "I won’t say it’s a miracle that we achieved this agreement, but it is surely historic," said Mittermeier. "History will recall that it was here in Nagoya that a new era of living in harmony was born and a new global alliance to protect life on earth was established. History will also recall that this would not have been possible without the outstanding leadership and commitment of the government and people of Japan," said Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD executive secretary.

Climate change is threatening genetic diversity and food security, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns in a new report. "There are thousands of wild crop relatives that... hold genetic secrets that enable them to resist heat, droughts, salinity, floods and pests," said FAO director general Jacques Diouf. "Increasing the sustainable use of plant diversity could be the main key for addressing risks to genetic resources for agriculture," he continued.

The FAO estimates that three-quarters of crop diversity was lost during the 20th century. A recent study from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research suggests that climate change could result in the loss of as much as 22 per cent of the wild relatives of food crops such as peanut and potato by the year 2055. The FAO report does note that there is now greater awareness of the importance of protecting and making use of the genetic diversity of food crops, with gene banks increasing in number and size. It stresses, though, the importance of mechanisms to ensure ready access to preserved genetic diversity, such as that provided by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The Asia-Pacific region is four times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than Africa and 25 times more more likely than Europe or North America, according to a new report from the United Nations. The region accounted for 85 per cent of deaths and 38 per cent of global economic losses due to natural disasters over the past three decades.

"Unless these imbalances are addressed, people who are constantly exposed to disaster risk are more likely to remain poor and more vulnerable to disasters, perpetuating a vicious cycle from which it is extremely difficult to break free," Noeleen Heyzer and Margareta Wahlström from the United Nations said in a joint statement. "Thus the question for us is not 'how to?', but rather 'how to do better?' – because people matter!"