Delegates negotiating compromise language on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs)
On Thursday, plenary elected the members of the compliance committees of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, and elected Basile van Havre (Canada) and Francis Ogwal (Uganda) as Co-Chairs of the Working Group on the post-2020 framework. Following informal consultations on digital sequence information under the Nagoya Protocol, safeguards in biodiversity financing mechanisms, and ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs), plenary adopted the meeting’s reports and decisions, including the budget. Delegates heard regional statements, and followed a video presentation on the 2020 Conference, to be held in Beijing, China.
CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer outlined the successes of the meeting, including, among others: committing to an inclusive and flexible preparatory process for the post-2020 framework; calling for a UN decade on ecosystem restoration; and committing to the final “two-year sprint towards the Aichi finish line.” She further emphasized the need to: “bend the curve” of biodiversity loss; move from a model of incremental change to transformational change; and recognize that saving cultural diversity goes hand-in-hand with saving biological diversity.
UN Biodiversity Conference President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, emphasized the spirit of mutual respect that prevailed during the Conference. She stressed that “marvelous work was done willingly and lovingly,” inviting delegates and participants to take the message “one step higher to raise the bar and materialize all the decisions that have been agreed.” She gaveled the Conference to a close at 9:02 pm.
IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon
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Dais durng plenary observed a moment of silence in memory of colleagues who passed away
Conference participants observed a moment of silence
Hayo Haanstra (the Netherlands), Chair of Working Group I
Clarissa Nina (Brazil), Chair of Working Group II
Monyrak Meng (Cambodia), Rapporteur
Elena Makeyeva, Belarus
Final day of the plenary session of the UN Biodiversity Conference
Delegates from Mexico
Helmut Gaugitsch, EU
Rosemary Paterson, New Zealand
Ga Youn Cho, Republic of Korea
Norbert Bärlocher, Switzerland
Ghanim Abdulla, Qatar
Mitzi Gurgel Valente da Costa, Brazil
Salomón Botero Bermudez, youngest meeting participant, with the Colombian delegation
Christiane Paulus, Germany
Ralph Sontag, Pew Charitable Trusts
Win Naing Thaw, Myanmar
Holly Kelley-Weil, UK
L-R: Anwar Al-Hemiary and Abdulghani Al-Bokwali, Yemen
Wendy Yap, Singapore
Gurdial Singh, Malaysia
Sarah Wyatt, The Global Environment Facility
Ali Mansoor Abbas Abdulla, Bahrain
Khaled Fouda Saddiq Mohammed, Governor of South Sinai, Egypt
Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary
Christine von Weizsäcker, ECOROPA, for the International Women's Biodiversity Network
L-R: Christian Schwarzer, Mirna Ines Fernandez, and Sharath Kolan Reddy, Global Youth Biodiversity Network
Humberto Delgado Rosa, EU
Marci Gompers-Small, Suriname, for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
Chengshou Bai, China
Helena Brown, Antigua and Barbuda, for the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC)
Delegates from South Africa
COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, joined by her son Ali Hussein Shabana
COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, gaveled the meeting to a close at 9:02 pm
Delegates from China
Delegates from the EU
Delegates from Austria
Delegates from IUCN
Delegates from UN Environment Programme
Basile van Havre, Canada, with Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, CBD Secretariat
COP 14 ENB team with (front row) Nicole Schabus, Elaine Limjoco, Lynn Finnegan, and Amanda Rude; (back row) Francis Dejon, Asheline Appleton, Merium Fouad, Elsa Tsioumani, and Asterios Tsioumanis