Cancun, Mexico, Dec 4 (EFE).- Ministers from 190 countries gathered in the Mexican city of Cancun stressed on Saturday the need to boost efforts to achieve biodiversity goals by 2020 and agreed on measures to step up the process of fulfilling them.
Following two days of debate, the high-level meeting ended Saturday with the adoption of the Cancun Declaration, which lays down the foundation for the negotiations set to begin Sunday at the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13).
The ministers expressed concern at the adverse impact on biodiversity caused by the degradation of ecosystems, overexploitation of resources, logging, illegal trade of species, introduction of invasive alien species, pollution and climate change.
They affirmed that additional efforts needed to be made to ensure the effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for the 2011-2020 period.
CBD Deputy Executive Secretary David Cooper warned Saturday in a press conference that two-thirds of the biodiversity targets established in 2010 in Aichi, Japan, were not on track to be fulfilled by 2020.
These include goals related to subsidies harmful to biodiversity, sustainable consumption and production, the protection of coral reefs and other ecosystems affected by change climate.
The declaration approved Saturday lays down commitments to increase and strengthen systems of protected areas, encourage innovation and the transfer of appropriate technologies, and stimulate the mobilization of resources from all sources.
In order to boost the Global Environment Fund, development banks and financial institutions will also offer support.
At the close of the meeting, Germany endorsed its commitment to allocating 500 million euros ($530 million) per year towards projects to combat climate change and protect biodiversity in developing nations.
The ministers also agreed to adopt measures to strengthen the capacities of indigenous people and local communities to implement the CBD by respecting their rights and through the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of their knowledge and traditional practices.
They also agreed to improve the regulatory framework of the activities of the private sector, optimize incentives and promote tools for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as for the sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Among the 18 promises in the declaration is also a boost to sustainable production and consumption along value chains as well as the implementation of safe and sustainable technologies.