The Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 12) will be held from the 6th to the 17th of October 2014 in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, Republic of Korea. The theme is Biodiversity for Sustainable Development:
- To raise international awareness about the essential role of biodiversity and its contribution to sustainable development.
- To put strong emphasis on biodiversity at the discussions of Post-2015 Development Agenda and setting of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During the Conference, several side-events related to coral reefs (including one co-organized by the International Coral Reef Initiative) and marine issues will be held:
| Tuesday, 7 October 2014 |
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Time/Room: 13:15 – 14:45 – LMMC Meeting Room, Hall F, Room 2 |
| Wednesday, 8 October 2014 |
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Time/Room: 13:15 – 14:45 – LMMC Meeting Room, Hall F, Room 2 |
| Thursday, 9 October 2014, Lunch-Time |
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Time/Room: 13:15 – 14:45 – Hall F, Room 2 – LMMC Meeting Room This side event will highlight the importance of coral reefs and associated ecosystems for sustainable development and the need to enhance action towards Aichi Target 10. The side event will present the main aspects of the Priority Actions to Achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 for Coral Reefs and Closely Associated Ecosystems, and will provide an opportunity to discuss opportunities build on lessons learned, scale up successful approaches, and enhance synergies to improve conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs and associated ecosystems. |
| Friday, 10 October 2014, Lunch-Time |
| Time/Room: 13:15 – 14:45 – Hall F, Room 2 – LMMC Meeting Room Organizer(s): United Nation Environment Programme and International Coral Reef Initiative Theme: Protecting Coastal and Marine Biodiversity and Biodiversity-based Livelihoods from the Impacts of Climate Change – The event will share information on coral reef planning and management approaches that safeguard or enhance coral reef resilience to increasing threats from climate change. Through presentations and panel discussion the event will review experiences and progress made, and discuss further actions and measures towards managing and conserving coral reefs for ecosystem service provision in the long-term.
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| Time/Room: 13:15 – 14:45 – Hall G, Room 1 (Marie Khan Women’s Caucus Room) Organizers:CBD Secretariat, Our Seas of East Asia Network (OSEAN), Waterbird Network Korea, Korea Maritime Institute Theme: Impacts of Marine Debris on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity – Marine debris impacts biodiversity and ecosystems in a number of ways, including entanglement and ingestion, transport of invasive alien species, and other various ecosystem-level effects. These impacts negatively affect the critical services provided by marine ecosystems. Various efforts are underway around the world to address this threat. However, marine debris continues to impact marine ecosystems and undermine efforts to achieve sustainable development. This side event will provide an opportunity to highlight this important issue to COP 12, focusing on the impacts and implications of marine debris on biodiversity, ecosystems and communities. The side event will also provide an opportunity to share experiences on the different types of approaches to address this threat and to discuss perspectives on how this issue may be addressed at a forthcoming CBD expert workshop. |
| Time/Room: 13:15 – 14:45 – Hall D, Room 1 – Asia and the Pacific Meeting Room Organizer: Global Environment Facility Theme: Recipes for Success in Coastal Fisheries Management – Coastal fisheries are one of the ocean’s greatest assets with tremendous opportunities for improvement and management for more sustainable fish stocks for global food security, generating more profits for coastal communities and helping to protect ocean biodiversity and habitats. There is a growing momentum to shift to sustainable coastal fisheries. Success stories of proven reforms are flourishing around the world. It is imperative to capture these experiences and potentially scale them up. The side-event will present some of these success stories and will discuss the opportunities that they can offer for replication and scaling-up. |
| Monday, 13 October 2014, Evening |
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Time/Room: 8:15 – 19:45 – Hall G, Room 3 – Side-events room |
| Time/Room: 18:15 – 19:45 – Hall D, Room 2 – GRULAC Meeting Room Organizer: Asean Centre for Biodiversity and Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia Theme: Partners roundtable on achieving the Aichi targets through integrated coastal management – The Roundtable with Donors and Partners will feature the joint initiative of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity and the Partnership for Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia in supporting efforts in South East and East Asia to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity targets through integrated coastal management. The joint initiative of PEMSEA and ACB will focus on scaling-up the coverage and effectiveness of Marine Conservation Areas and Threatened Species Protection. Partners and donors will be engaged in the discussion and possible joint collaboration supporting the following key areas: 1) scaling up the coverage and resilience of habitat building species, namely mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs in areas of globally significant biodiversity and ecosystem services (Aichi Target 11); 2) preventing the extinction of known marine threatened species (e.g., Chinese White Dolphin, Irrawaddy Dolphin, Humphead Wrasse, etc.) as a contribution to Aichi Target 12; 3) improving the ability of ecosystems to retain their services and adapt to climate changes (Aichi Target 10); and 4) sustaining natural marine resource-based livelihoods and eco-businesses. Hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea and co-organized by PEMSEA and ACB in collaboration with the CBD Secretariat, the roundtable will also kick-off a partnership under the LifeWeb Initiative to mobilize support to implementation of NBSAPs and related PoWPA processes of the participating countries in South East and East Asia. |
| Tuesday, 14 October 2014 |
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Time/Room: 15:00 – 16:15 – Concert Hall |
| Thursday, 16th October 2014 |
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Time/Room: 18:15 – 19:45 @ Hall C, Room 1 – CEE Meeting Room The Blue Solutions Initiative acts as a global knowledge platform to collate and share knowledge about what works and to enhance capacities in order to enable scaling of success in marine management and support creation of evidence-based innovation. The side event will introduce the initiative and its “solution-ing” approach to distilling key success factors of solutions on management and governance of marine and coastal areas, defining how they work in their unique context and how they can be adapted to new circumstances. Flyer of the event (PDF File) |
Fore more information about the side events, visit: http://www.cbd.int/register/side-events/list.aspx?mtg=COP-12
For more information about the COP 12, visit: http://www.cbdcop12.kr/eng/sub/conference/conference01.php
The Aichi target 10
The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) held in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010 ushered in a new era of biodiversity conservation. The 193 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and their partners rose to the challenge of reversing biodiversity loss, which is occurring at an unprecedented rate—up to 1000 times the natural rate of extinction—by adopting a new 10-year Strategic Plan (2010-2020) and Aichi Biodiversity Targets to guide international and national efforts to safeguard biodiversity. One of the Aichi targets (target 10) specifically mentions coral reef:
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Target 10 By 2015, the multiple anthropogenic pressures on coral reefs, and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean acidification are minimized, so as to maintain their integrity and functioning. |