Bonn Declaration on

Parliamentarians and Biodiversity

 

 

We, the Parliamentarians participating in the meeting on Parliamentarians and Biodiversity held in Bonn, Germany, on 27 May 2008, at the occasion of the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity,

Deeply concerned by the unprecedented rate of loss of biodiversity of our planet and its far-reaching environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts, exacerbated by the effects of climate change, and concerned also that the consequences of biodiversity loss and ecosystem disruption affect all of us but that the poor are the most immediately vulnerable, and that this poses a significant barrier to development, and in particular to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals,

Reaffirming that healthy ecosystems provide goods and services that support the well-being of all humans, including social, economic and cultural benefits, and that biodiversity underpins the sustained provisioning of these benefits,

Recalling the adoption of the 2010 biodiversity target during the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, aiming to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss at the local, national and global levels, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth,

Recognizing the essential role of parliamentarians in translating the consensus reached internationally under the Convention on Biological Diversity into tangible actions at the national level, giving biodiversity a more prominent position in the political mainstream and integrating it more closely into the national policy-making and legislative processes and into budgetary frameworks,

Welcoming the resolution adopted during the 111^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Switzerland, on 1 October 2004, on the role of parliaments in preserving biodiversity, supporting the commitment of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development to achieve a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity by 2010,

Further recalling the resolution adopted during the 114^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Nairobi, Kenya, on 12 May 2006, on the role of parliaments in environmental management and in combating global degradation of the environment,

Welcoming the initiative of the Environment Committee of the German Parliament to hold its regular session on 27 May 2008 in Bonn, with the participation of the parliamentarians attending the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity,

 

1.         Reaffirm our commitment to contribute actively to the implementation of the three objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the achievement of the 2010 biodiversity target aimed at reducing substantially the rate of loss of the biodiversity of our planet, as well as to the global commitment made by Parties during the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Curitiba, Brazil, to reach agreement on an International Regime on access and benefit sharing before 2010;

2.         Recognize our responsibility to take the necessary legislative, administrative and/or policy actions needed at the national level to honour the obligations of the Convention and to mainstream biodiversity considerations into the development agenda through the implementation of specific legislation, policies and budgetary frameworks, as necessary;

3.         Reiterate our resolve to build the political will necessary to decrease the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010 and beyond that date by increasing the level of awareness at all governmental levels and among policy makers on the importance of biodiversity;

4.         Encourage the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and GLOBE International to support, through the establishment of appropriate mechanisms, world-wide parliamentary dialogue on biodiversity;

5.         Request the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity to enhance awareness about biodiversity issues among parliamentarians by showcasing case studies focusing on experiences related to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at the Convention’s website;    

6.         Encourage the convening, in 2010, of a meeting of parliamentarians of the Parties to the Convention to mark the celebration of the International Year on Biodiversity.

Bonn, Germany, 27 May 2008.