International news

Déclaration de M. Braulio F. de Souza Dias, Secrétaire exécutif de la CDB, lors de l'ouverture de l'atelier de renforcement des capacités des pays francophones partenaires du centre d'echange d'informations (CHM) Belge, Cotonou, Bénin, 1-3 février 2016

The wetlands of today are essential for human health and prosperity, and the benefits they provide have enormous economic and social value. As confirmed by the 2013 report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Water and Wetlands, which we are proud to have contributed to, the ecosystem services provided by wetlands, on a per unit area basis, are the most valuable of all of our ecosystem types.

Statement by Mr. Braulio F. de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary, at the opening of the Biodiversity Indicator Partnership Technical Partner Meeting, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 25-27 January 2016

Articles are presently being sought from members of civil society and indigenous peoples and local communities for the tenth edition of the CBD newsletter for civil society, [square brackets], being prepared to coincide with the twentieth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 20), being held in Montreal 25-30 April 2016, and the first meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation, being held 2-6 May 2016 in Montreal.

Statement by Mr. Braulio F. de Souza Dias, CBD Executive Secretary, at the opening of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) Capacity-Building Workshop for East Africa, Nosy Be, Madagascar, 18-22 January 2016

Following accession by Slovakia on 29 December 2015, the total number of ratifications to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization now stands at 70.

Statement by the Executive Secretary at the opening of the CBD Regional Workshop to Facilitate the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) in the Seas of East Asia, Xiamen, China, 14 - 18 December 2015

Message from the Executive Secretary: "The shift of ambition towards 1.5 degrees will make a big difference, particularly for the most vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs and polar ecosystems."

Covering some 22 per cent of the world's land surface, mountains are home to spectacular landscapes, a wide variety of ecosystems, a great diversity of species, and distinctive human communities, with approximately 955 million people, or 13 percent of the global population residing in mountain areas.

Governments encouraged to use biodiversity and ecosystem services as strategy for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction