Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

The purpose of this closing event is to establish more concrete communication for business, consumers, and stakeholders regarding the importance and value of biodiversity for society. The objectives are to raise awareness amongst European citizens on sustainable consumption and the socio-economic aspect of biodiversity, to draft concrete proposals for the European Commission, and to launch a new initiative.

In October, Belgium will preside over European negotiations at the COP10-CBD in Nagoya.

So this is a year for all issues, and in particular for the European Union and Belgium, the EU President during the second half of 2010.

This closing conference will be based on results from sources such as the TEEB study, the Gand conference of September 2010, in particular the discussions held during the workshop on ‘Valuation of ecosystem services’ at the European level, and from the COP10-CBD.

This event will translate the commitments made at Nagoya into a more concrete and pragmatic form, for businesses, consumers, and stakeholders, and foremost for the importance and value of biodiversity for society. Its main message is that biodiversity means much more than just nature conservation. It offers multiple services that are free but essential to everyone’s survival.

Therefore, the idea is to pin down and detail some specific actions for the future European strategy.

This event will also be an occasion for the launch of a new initiative to succeed Countdown2010.

The target audience will be the business sector, consumers, and national stakeholders.