English - Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente

UNEP/LAC-IG.XVII/6Page 14encompass adjustments in ancestral knowledge and practices. The representativealso considered that the economic value of biological diversity must beacknowledged and that mechanisms must be sought to incorporate this value intogovernment accounts.84. The representative from Colombia considered that 2010 is a year forreflection since the biological diversity goals have not been met. She noted thatcountries have a second chance to meet the post-2010 goals and for theinternational ABS system to be adopted as a legally binding instrument in Nagoyaas an essential element to achieve this objective.85. The representative of Barbados pointed out that the region’s richness inbiological diversity, especially the marine ecosystems of the Caribbean, constitutesan opportunity for wealth creation, economic investment, and for the provision ofsocial services to the population. The representative noted the importance ofestablishing a clear collective position towards the COP 10 negotiations.86. The representative of Antigua and Barbuda stressed the importance of notmissing the second opportunity to meet the biological diversity targets after COP-10in Nagoya. He considers that a synergistic approach to solving biological diversity,climate change, and land degradation issues is desirable, as they complement eachother, and that the Small Island Development States (SIDS) especially cannotafford to approach them separately. Antigua and Barbuda has in fact established afocal point within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the implementation of the threeRio conventions and all Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).87. The delegation of Brazil presented the main outcomes of the workshop heldby the Ministry of the Environment of Brazil and the United Kingdom Department ofEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), with the support of the Secretariat ofthe CBD, in January 2010. They expressed the need to set ambitious but feasibletargets that can provide, together with adequate support mechanisms, thenecessary enabling environment to promote decisive implementation of the threeobjectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Brazil considered the CBD’snew Strategic Plan as an implementation protocol to ensure the level of bindingcommitment required to achieve the agreed objectives and targets. Brazilencouraged Parties to the CBD to define their National Biological DiversityStrategies and Action Plans as a formal policy instrument, including national targetstogether with implementation and monitoring mechanisms; to put in place nationalABS legislation and its implementation mechanisms; and to establish nationalpolicies to mainstream biological diversity objectives and guidelines in all relevantsector policies, so as to integrate biological diversity into national developmentplans. They also encouraged countries to treat biological diversity goods andservices as a Natural Capital Asset and set mechanisms to access its socioeconomicvalue. Furthermore, they highlighted the vital role of this Forum, and askedcountries to take advantage of it in order to move forward by attaining concreteresults regarding the three objectives of the CBD, for the present and for the nearfuture.88. The representative of Nicaragua underscored its commitment with therestoration of ecosystems, in the reality context of Central America and theconnectivity of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, highlighting the loss of