Side Event

Biodiversity and people attacked by disasters and conflicts: A challenge for the implementation of the Convention

Organizer
NGOs, Ecoropa and EcoNexus

Date and Time
9 October 2012 18:15 - 19:45

Meeting
Eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 11)

WGRI4 requested the Executive Secretary to undertake "a review of the short- and long-term impacts of disasters and conflicts on biodiversity and ways and means to take actions for implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets under such conditions" The effects of disasters and conflicts on biodiversity are not new - and they are as diverse as the the conflicts and disasters themselves. Conflicts - armed as well as others - have not only disastorous impacts on the people that are caught up in it, but also on the environment: the direct and indirect devastation of natural areas by military conflict, the destruction of biodiversity as military means, effects on biodiversity and agricultural biodiverstiry by the displacement of refugees, and impacts on the local and national economies due to which resources for biodiversity protection are not available. The question to the Parties now is, what we can do to help countries and regions in which conflicts or disaster took or still take place to implement the Strategic plan.