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on biodiversity
The U.N.'s biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan will set global targets for governments worldwide
to protect ecosystems.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity starts Monday in Japan to set targets for 2020Many
rainforests and coral reefs already at a tipping point, says the controllingpollution.com U.N.New
Strategic Plan to be agreed along with new protocols to sustain ecosystemsNot one government met
2010 targets which were set back in 2002
(CNN) -- Delegates from all over the world descended on Nagoya in Japan on Monday for talks
considered crucial to sustaining the future of animal, plant and human life on Earth.
For two weeks, delegates at the 10th meeting (COP10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity will
attempt to agree a 20-point plan for the next decade following the comprehensive failure of any
government to meet previous targets set out in 2002.
"Nagoya is the main global event to communicate the value of nature and the costs of its loss to the
whole world," Pavan Sukhdev, special advisor and head of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative told
CNN.
What is the Convention on Biological Diversity?
The U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a legally-binding treaty consisting of 193
members or "Parties" (192 governments plus the European Union).
It was set up at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and came into force in December 1993.
Its stated aims are to conserve and sustain biodiversity, while trying to promote a "fair and
equitable" sharing of benefits made from plant and animal life.
Number of people in developing countries who rely on fish as a major source of food: One billion
Percentage of the world's fisheries that are fully or overexploited: 80 percent
Source: United Nations
Number of people who depend on drugs derived from forest plants: One billion
Percentage of medicinal plants used today under threat of extinction: Eight percent
Source: UNEP
Why is the summit so important?
Ecologists and politicians agree that the planet's ecosystems are in crisis. The U.N.'s third Global
Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) -- published in May 2010 -- painted a depressingly bleak picture of
be reasonable to expect that -- in this, the U.N.'s International Year of Biodiversity -- world leaders
will want emerge from the summit with some concrete plans and avoid a rerun of the widely
perceived failure of last year's climate change talks in Copenhagen.
Biodiversity is still too remote from people's self-interest
--Ros Aveling, Flora and Fauna International