JAPAN/FILE: Global U.N. meeting to preserve natural resources enters final stages of talks
Record ID:
465067
JAPAN/FILE: Global U.N. meeting to preserve natural resources enters final stages of talks
- Title: JAPAN/FILE: Global U.N. meeting to preserve natural resources enters final stages of talks
- Date: 28th October 2010
- Summary: NAGOYA, JAPAN (OCTOBER 27, 2010) (REUTERS) CONFERENCE CENTER WHERE COP10 IS BEING HELD SECURITY CHECKING CARS DRIVING UP TO CONFERENCE CENTER SIGN THAT READS "COP10 AICHI-NAGOYA" PEOPLE SIGNING IN FOR EVENTS MORE OF PEOPLE CHECKING IN FOR EVENT
- Embargoed: 12th November 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations,Nature / Environment
- Reuters ID: LVAC34L5E0Z3UOMUQ7Z8N0EQULZ
- Story Text: Negotiations at a global U.N. meeting to preserve natural resources entered final stages in Nagoya, Japan on Wednesday (October 27) amidst concerns as to whether a legally binding contract can be ratified.
The COP10 talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya are aimed at setting new 2020 targets to protect plant and animal species, a protocol to share genetic resources between countries and companies, and more funding to protect nature, especially forests.
High level talks between environmental ministers began in earnest on Wednesday morning with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan underlining the risk of inaction at the opening ceremony.
"Today, we are losing the diversity of plants and animals in a manner unprecedented in both speed and scale. Forest equivalent to one-third the area of the Japanese archipelago are disappearing every year. Unfortunately, this ongoing mass extinction is being caused mainly by the activities of us human beings," Kan said.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates global deforestation fell from 16 million hectares (40 million acres) per year in the 1990s to 13 million hectares per year in the past decade, with the bulk of the losses in tropical countries.
"I would like to ask for representatives of each country to give their best effort at this COP10 meeting. Once the post-2010 target is agreed upon, Japan is prepared to lead the world in achieving it," Kan said.
The talks seek to seal within days a treaty to share genetic resources between countries and companies, a step that could unlock billions of dollars for developing nations from drug, agri-resources and cosmetics firms.
The possible access and benefit-sharing protocol aims to create a legal framework that would give nations much better control over their resources from trees to fungi and from fish to frogs that can lead to cures for cancer or new crops more resistant to climate change.
The meeting has also reached out to include organizations such as the World Bank which are not normally associated with environmental meetings.
"Why is the World Bank attending a conference on biodiversity? Our answer is clear, successful conservation of our natural resources, our ecosystems, our biodiversity, is central to addressing all development challenges and to improving the lives of the poor," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.
While fair sharing of genetic resources is a key goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity that went into force in 1993, voluntary measures weren't adopted until 2002 and in 2006 a target was set to agree on a legally binding treaty by 2010.
That deadline is the current COP10 meeting that is due to end on Friday (October 29). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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