Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Environment Secretary Caroline Spelmen released a statement on Friday 29th of October following the agreement reached at the tenth Conference for Parties (COP 10) for setting targets to protect the natural environment. The conference was held in Nagoya, Japan.
The Conference of the Parties is the governing body of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its periodic meetings. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) entered into force on 29 December 1993. It has 3 main objectives:
- The conservation of biological diversity
- The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity
- The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resource
For more information, please visit the official website. Caroline Spelman has announced £100 million to be used to fund biodiversity projects in forest regions, and her statement also detailed that:
“The new agreement states we will take effective and urgent action to halt the loss of habitats and species in order to ensure that by 2020 our natural environment is resilient and can continue to provide the essential services that we would otherwise take for granted. This will secure the planet’s variety of life, our well-being and help eradicate poverty.
We have also secured an agreement to link climate change, global poverty and biodiversity together in protecting the world’s forests, which is essential if we are to achieve our aims in these areas. This was a key objective for the UK.”
