Punta del Este, Uruguay, 8 June 2015 - To meet the growing global biodiversity challenges, the international community has developed a range of legally binding agreements. The UN Environment Programme this week launched a Sourcebook to enhance cooperation between these biodiversity-related conventions.
The 'Sourcebook of Opportunities for Enhancing Cooperation among the Biodiversity-related Conventions at National and Regional Levels' focuses on what can be achieved through cooperation among those implementing the Biodiversity-related Conventions at national and regional levels. It provides practical examples, checklists, lessons learnt and case studies from around the world which can provide inspiration, inform ongoing processes and act as a useful resource to ensure policy coherence.
Using 63 national and regional examples, the Sourcebook illustrates how individual countries and regional groups are realizing benefits from working collaboratively to achieve enhanced implementation of the conventions through strengthened cooperation in relation to six core themes: institutional arrangements; information management and reporting; the science-policy interface; capacity building; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and related Aichi Biodiversity Targets and National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plans (NBSAPs); and financial resource mobilization and utilization..
The Sourcebook was developed as part of a UNEP project funded by the European Union and the Government of Switzerland. It was launched as part of events surrounding the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP 12).
It focusses on six biodiversity related conventions, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS); the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention); the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (WHC); the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA); and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
It is hoped that coherent implementation of the biodiversity-related Conventions through the NBSAP process will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
