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

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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
Contributing to 2010,the International Year ofBiodiversityThe United Nations declared2010 to be the InternationalYear of Biodiversity (IYB).2010 was a celebration oflife on earth and of the valueof biodiversity for our lives. During2010, the world was invited to takeaction to safeguard the variety oflife on earth because “Biodiversity islife – Biodiversity is our life”. The IYBwas orchestrated by the Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD).The United Nations General Assemblyproclaimed the period from 2011 to2020 as the United Nations Decade onBiodiversity.1-Contributing to the evaluationof progress against the 2010biodiversity targetsDIVERSITAS-bioDISCOVERY (P Leadley,H Pereira) together with UNEP-WCMCcoordinated a synthesis and criticalanalysis of existing global and regionalbiodiversity scenarios as a contributionto the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3,GBO-3, commissioned by the Secretariatof the CBD. GBO-3 was officiallylaunched on May 10, 2010, at CBD-SBSTTA 14. See this report page 27.The GBO-3 report served as ascientific basis to support thedecision by CBD delegates thatthe 2010 biodiversity target hadnot been reached.2-Contributing to the StrategicPlan for Biodiversity 2011-2020and the Aichi Biodiversity TargetsCOP10 adopted the Strategic Plan forBiodiversity 2011-2020 and the AichiBiodiversity Targets (the “20 targets for2020”).DIVERSITAS, and, in particular,ecoSERVICES and bioSUSTAINABILITY,contributed to the discussions on the2020 targets, by convening workshops,publishing papers, organising sideevents and reporting in plenary at CBD-SBSTTA 14 and COP 10. See this reportpage 30.3-Contributing to theimplementation of a globalbiodiversity observing system:the GEO BON initiativeOn 22 May 2010, GEO BON released atCBD-SBSTTA 14, the GEO BON detailedimplementation plan toward a globalbiodiversity observation system. TheCBD invited GEO BON to prepare anevaluation of existing observationcapabilities relevant to the targetscontained in the Strategic Plan forBiodiversity 2011-2020.DIVERSITAS actively contributed to theimplementation plan, and representedGEO BON at both CBD-SBSTTA14 andCOP10. See this report page 28.4-Contributing to theconsultation on an IPBES2010 was a very important year forIPBES, since the year ended with aformal decision by the UN GeneralAssembly, in December 2010, to requestUNEP to get started with IPBES andhost the first Plenary meeting of IPBES.DIVERSITAS was involved in both theformal IPBES consultation process, andin informal activities to promote theconcept of an IPBES. See this reportpage 26.SECTION 1 I DIVERSITAS SCIENCE 5
Page 1: Annual Report 2010-11I n t e g r a
Page 5: FOREWORDFrom the Chair and the Exec
Page 10 and 11: New DIVERSITAS web sitelaunched!DIV
Page 12 and 13: InternationalProject Officescoordin
Page 14 and 15: ioDISCOVERYAssessing, monitoring an
Page 16 and 17: ioSUSTAINABILITYScience for the con
Page 18 and 19: InternationalProject Officescoordin
Page 20 and 21: freshwaterBIODIVERSITYChair: M A Pa
Page 22 and 23: ecoHEALTHBuilding bridges between b
Page 24 and 25: EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPDev
Page 26 and 27: Global Water System Project (GWSP)C
Page 28 and 29: DIVERSITAS at the interfacebetween
Page 30 and 31: Building a globalbiodiversity obser
Page 32: DIVERSITAS at the interfacebetween
Page 36 and 37: PublicationsThe Intergovernmentalsc
Page 39 and 40: September 2010freshwaterBIODIVERSIT
Page 41 and 42: DIVERSITAS Committees’ initiative
Page 43 and 44: Global Environmental Change Program
Page 45 and 46: AcknowledgementsFunding for the act
Page 47 and 48: Getting involved…The success of D

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