Biodiversity in a changing world
What steps are required to maintain biodiversity, both in Europe and worldwide? This is the issue about which Joke Schauvliege, the Flemish Minister for Environment, Nature and Culture and president of the European Council – Environment will host the European conference on Biodiversity in a changing world, in cooperation with the European Commission and the other Belgian authorities.
“Message from Ghent” for Nagoya
This conference on biodiversity post-2010 is being organised in the context of the Belgian EU Presidency and the International Year of Biodiversity and is intended to feed into the EU strategy for biodiversity post-2010 and to streamline the EU position in international negotiations on a global biodiversity strategy. To wind up the conference, Council President Joke Schauvliege will formulate a “Message from Ghent”; a policy message to the Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is to take place in October 2010 in Nagoya (Japan).
International presentation of the TEEB report
The conference will also serve as venue for the official international presentation of the “TEEB D2-Report for Policy and Public Management at Regional and Local Levels” of the study on “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity” (TEEB). This TEEB study specifies a method of analysis to survey the economic importance of biodiversity and ecosystems in general and the economic cost of the biodiversity loss in particular.
Programme
The conference provides a forum to European leaders, policy makers, members of European institutions, NGOs, scientists and other stakeholders to exchange experiences, ideas and innovative solutions to Europe's most pressing biodiversity conservation challenges. In addition, various approaches for implementing post-2010 targets will be discussed.
The three key conference themes are:
1. biodiversity in urbanising Europe;
2. valuation and benefits of ecosystem services;
3. ways and means for implementing the vision and targets for biodiversity post-2010.
