Adil GÜNER, Vehbi ESER - optima

ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES OF THE `COUNTDOWN
2010 AND BEYOND´ INITIATIVE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
REGION
Juan Carlos MORENO SAIZ
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología (Botánica), Madrid, Spain,
jcarlos.moreno@uam.es
‘Countdown 2010 and beyond’ has been the initiative of the Convention on Biological Diversity
to significantly curb the loss of biodiversity by such date. Amongst others, its objectives include
promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity, studying its biggest threats, maintaining the
integrity of ecosystems, ensuring the supply of goods and services provided by biodiversity, and
protecting their traditional knowledge.
Although parts of these points has been redefined and/or delayed until 2020, the proximity of the
completion date for this campaign allows us to examine critically the progress on plant
conservation and the success on the achievement of other targets. It is well worth making such a
revision in the Mediterranean Region, particularly in light of the additional EU commitment to
halt biodiversity loss by 2010 through its Action Plan for Biodiversity.
In my talk I will pay particular attention to the first goal of such Plan –‘Safeguarding the most
important species and habitats’– in Mediterranean countries. Among them, Spain provides a
timely case study because there have been two comprehensive assessments of conservation status
of the Spanish vascular flora in the past decade (Red Lists in 2000 and 2008), and points to an
unflattering conclusion of the initiative.
Keywords: Mediterranean, Biodiversity, Red List, Policy, Vascular plants.
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Oral Lectures