Annual Report 2010-11 - Global Invasive Species Programme - GISP

The Conference of the Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity,CBD-COP10There was enhanced activity by thebiodiversity community in generalthis past year since it was the officialUN International Year of Biodiversityculminating in the very successful meetingin Nagoya, Japan of the Conference ofthe Parties to the CBD. The DIVERSITAScommunity contributed extensively tothe crafting of the Strategic Plan forBiodiversity 2011-20 and the AichiBiodiversity Targets that came out ofNagoya. Further, it contributed to thecritical background documents for theNagoya meeting including the GlobalBiodiversity Outlook 3.Toward a Global BiodiversityObservation System, GEO BONDIVERSITAS and its partners haveintensified input into the design of aglobal biodiversity observation systemthat would fulfill a critical need oftracking the status of biodiversity andecosystem services through time, toaddress, in particular, future IPBESobservation needs. An implementationplan has been published, and a secretariatestablished, but there is much work to bedone in order to put the plan into actionand to integrate with the many relevantpartners.The changes in DIVERSITASThere are two major initiatives that willchange, to some extent, the presentmode of operation of DIVERSITAS. Oneis a move to bring greater integrationamong the Global Environmental Change(GEC) programmes of the InternationalCouncil for Science (ICSU). This ICSUvisioning initiative was driven in partby the willingness of a number of majornational funders to co-ordinate to adegree their respective funding strategiesfor global change programmes as well asdirectives from the ICSU General Assemblyfor greater programme integration.Discussions relevant to these trends havenoted that there needs to be a greaterincorporation of social and naturalsciences into the GEC programmes, andincreased policy relevance.The second initiative is the move withinDIVERSITAS itself to restructure itsprojects along three major themes:Challenge 1: Identify urgent detrimentalchanges in biodiversity and ecosystemservices and provide the knowledge toavoid, limit or mitigate such changesChallenge 2: Enhance the capacity ofsocial-ecological systems to supportbiodiversity and ecosystem services underglobal changeChallenge 3: Develop knowledge on theevolution, distribution and function ofbiodiversity to sustain ecosystem servicesand human well-beingAll of these changes will keep us engaged inmoving ahead our strong current projects toattaining their goals and at the same timein moving toward a greater integration withthe other GEC Programmes. We have a strongscientific committee, all with high sciencecredentials, with a mix of those workingin the field or at the bench or computer,covering the span of inquiry from moleculesto the globe. This group includes thosefrom the policy community as well as amix of natural and social scientists. So weare well positioned to be able to quicklyreposition ourselves as the need arises.In addition to all of these changes wewill have a new Chair of the ScientificCommittee, Prof. Georgina Mace, fromImperial College, London, UK, starting inJanuary 2012. Georgina, a highly recognisedscientist, has considerable experiencealready with DIVERSITAS since she is nowserving as one of the Vice Chairs.All of the items mentioned above ofcourse are going on in the background ofthe real work of DIVERSITAS which residesin the integrated research projects. Theextraordinary accomplishments of thevolunteers that move our science aheadalong a broad front, within integratedinternational projects, are clearly shown inthe reports that follow.Harold A. Mooney,Chair Scientific Committee of DIVERSITASAnne Larigauderie,Executive Director, DIVERSITAS4 DIVERSITAS I ANNUAL REPORT 2010