Summary: 19 May 2008, Brussels - The Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 9) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will open in Bonn, Germany on 19 May, and run until 30 May.
The conference is the world's premier forum for discussing international biodiversity matters. The globally agreed deadline for significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss is now only two years away, and COP9 should prove to be an important milestone triggering enhanced global, regional and national action.
The issues to be discussed include agriculture and forest biodiversity, deforestation, protected areas (including the need for increased funding and protected ocean areas), the biodiversity impacts of the increasing demand for biofuels, the harmonisation of biodiversity and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and progress towards completing the negotiations of an international regime on access and benefit sharing for genetic materials.
Commissioner Dimas and President Barroso will attend the high-level segment of the conference which runs from 28 to 30 May. During the high-level segment Commissioner Dimas and Minister Gabriel will present the first installment of the review on The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity, a study led by Pavan Sukhdev of Deutsche Bank. Other side events will include a celebration of the achievements of Natura 2000, a Business and Biodiversity event, and a session dedicated to the EU-China
biodiversity programme.
For more information see http://www.cbd.int/cop9/
| Top |
European Union Member States
Alerts by email
Email this page
Print this page