Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-23-Speech-3-244"
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"en.20080423.21.3-244"2
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"Mr President, first of all, I would like to thank Mr Ouzký for this very important question. I think we all noticed how, in 2007, environmental issues rose to the top of the political agenda. Climate change grabbed the headlines and popular imagination.
Fourthly, we want to develop international guidance for promoting biodiversity-friendly ways of enhancing the production and consumption of biomass, including biofuels.
Fifthly, we aim to identify the main components of an international regime on access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits arising from their use.
Sixthly, we want an agreement on the establishment of an international mechanism on scientific expertise on biodiversity.
And seventhly, and finally, we will promote a decision in the field of liability and redress for damage resulting from transboundary movements of living modified organisms.
So the Commission always facilitates the inclusion of Members of Parliament in Community delegations negotiating multilateral agreements. I have, myself, very positive experience of doing this. I welcome the participation of Members of the European Parliament at COP 9 and MOP 4, as they are called in the language we use in this context. I am, of course, interested in hearing your priorities and expectations for these meetings.
But the loss of biodiversity is a global threat that needs to be faced with the same urgency, and they are linked. Climate change and biodiversity are linked. A failure to recognise this relationship may undermine our efforts for improvements in both areas.
How do we halt the loss of biodiversity? Well, I believe that Europe made some progress in this area by implementing the activities covered by the communication of 2006 from the Commission ‘Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 – and beyond’. However, more efforts are needed. In particular we need a stronger buy-in of sectors other than nature conservation, such as agriculture, fisheries and energy.
Effective international cooperation is also essential and we are firmly committed to working through the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect global diversity worldwide.
The ninth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be held back-to-back with the fourth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, offers a remarkable opportunity to step up the protection of biodiversity and, since these meetings will be hosted and chaired by Germany, Europe has a particular role. We will push for the acceleration of international efforts towards achieving the global target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss by 2010.
At the beginning of March, the Council adopted conclusions that set up the broad political mandate and the main priorities for the EU at these meetings. They can be summarised in seven points.
First, we want to agree on new commitments to enhance implementation, in particular as regards the execution of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s programmes on protected areas and forest biodiversity.
Secondly, we want to ensure that climate change adaptation and mitigation measures also support the 2010 biodiversity target. The decisions to be taken in Bonn should contribute to the post-Bali debate on reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Thirdly, we will promote the adoption of criteria for the identification of vulnerable marine areas to be protected. In addition, we also intend to commit all the contracting parties in terms of how to apply these criteria."@en1
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