Setting a global agenda for biodiversity

Setting a global agenda for biodiversity

The following article is excerpted from the opening remarks
made by Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Indonesia's minister of
environment, in his capacity as chairman of the Second Conference
of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity in Jakarta from Nov.
6 to 17.

JAKARTA (JP): As a nation of islands we are delighted at the
emphasis on the conservation and sustainable use of coastal and
marine biodiversity and we welcome the very useful
recommendations from the Subordinate Body on Scientific,
Technical and Technological Advice meeting in Paris.

Indonesia's great expanse of territorial waters and the
richness of the Indo-Pacific oceans provide food and livelihoods
for many in our island nation and we are concerned about
protecting these biological resources and major fisheries and
using them in a sustainable manner. As part of this process
Indonesia is embracing the concepts of integrated coastal zone
management and using this tool to plan and implement sustainable
development for our people.

Indonesia has some of the most biologically rich and
productive coral reefs in the world, the greatest expanses of
mangroves in Southeast Asia and extensive sea grass beds which
provide right feeding grounds for marine turtles and the fabled
dugongs.

Indonesia welcomes the global Coral Reef Initiative and is
already taking steps to protect and manage coral reefs through
the COREMAP project which is being prepared with World Bank and
Global Environment Facility assistance.

That project will help strengthen institutional capacity for
reef management, involving local communities fully in the process
and building on local knowledge and customary management
practices. Our coral reefs are not only beautiful, they also
provide valuable and essential resources for coastal communities.
Like other nations we are becoming increasingly concerned about
sustainable fishery and the dangers of overfishing.

While we welcome the new emphasis on coastal and marine
biodiversity, we must not forget terrestrial habitats and
freshwater ecosystems. Indonesia has the largest forest reserves
in Southeast Asia, covering more than 60 percent of the whole
country and including lowland forests which are the most species
rich forests on Earth.

These forests harbor an estimated 25,000 species of flowering
plants, one tenth of the world's total, and a rich and diverse
fauna. We are proud of this biodiversity and well aware of the
contribution it makes to the national and local economies.

We have already designated large areas of forests as
conservation areas for biodiversity and watershed protection.
However we are aware that in the pursuit of economic development
we have not always harvested our forests wisely and that we must
do more to promote sustainable forestry.

Indonesia is committed to improved forest management and
sustainable use by the year 2000 in accordance with International
Timber Trade Organization guidelines. We are proud to host the
Center for International Forestry Research whose work provides
guidelines for sustainable forest management. We welcome the
initiative of the Commission on Sustainable Development to
establish an Intergovernmental Panel on Forests.

As one of the outputs of this meeting we would like to see
delegates put conservation and sustainable use of forests high on
the biodiversity agenda; not just tropical forests but also
forests in temperate and boreal regions which are threatened by
unsustainable harvesting.

As in many other developing countries, much of our population
depends on subsistence agriculture. These farmers and rural
communities are custodians of considerable biodiversity and
biological knowledge through cultivation and husbandry of crop
races and their relatives. We are concerned about access to
genetic resources and intellectual property rights and we look
forward to fruitful deliberations on these topics.

Another major concern for Indonesia and other developing
countries is the development and transfer of technology and ways
to promote access to that technology. There is widespread
recognition that the main agents of transfer are likely to be
private firms, but governments have an important role to play in
providing the necessary infrastructure and enabling climate for
development.

Like many other developing countries we need to strengthen
institutional capacity for research and development and to find
ways to integrate local and traditional knowledge of natural
resource management into modern management practices.

During the first Convention on Biodiversity many parties
expressed concern about the need for safe transfer, handling and
use of living modified organisms and the matter of biosafety,
both in relation to modified organisms and introduced or exotic
species.

This issue of biosafety is of particular concern to us. Homo
sapiens is an inquisitive species and our curiosity and search
for knowledge will lead us into new territory in biotechnology
and manipulation of genes and species.

Much of this manipulation will benefit humankind, for example,
the creation of drought or disease-resistant food crop varieties,
but other potential products of genetic manipulation are more
worrisome and take us into uncharted territory and the need for a
code of bioethics.

Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is
fundamental to sustainable development. All of us are dependent
to varying degrees on biological resources for food, shelter,
medicines, income generation and a healthy physical and cultural
environment.

All of us can agree that establishment of conservation areas
and ex-situ collections will not by itself be sufficient to
protect biodiversity. Probably more important is the need to
rethink our strategies for sectoral development to ensure that
biodiversity objectives are integrated into sectoral policies,
plans and programs.

We need to mainstream biodiversity not only in sectors which
are obviously dependent on biological resources such as
agriculture, fisheries and forestry but also into infrastructure,
industry, energy and transport sector strategies which impact on
natural habitats and biodiversity.

Governments will have to initiate follow-up actions to the UN
convention on biodiversity and form and reform national legal
instruments and institutions, as well as mind sets. All these
will be the great challenge of the future, meeting the objectives
of the convention and integrating biodiversity into sustainable
development.

At the same time we need to be paying greater attention to
conservation education and awareness, mainstreaming biodiversity
both within the formal as well as non formal education sector and
in our daily lives. The various communications media, visual as
well as electronic will have to show more on values of
biodiversity and our dependence on those biological resources.

In Indonesia we have success in grassroots oriented programs
such as in family planning, integrated pest management, nutrition
and basic education. Two years ago we designated Nov. 5 as our
National Flora and Fauna Day.

We have adopted national and provincial plants and flowers and
this program will eventually be extended to the village level
with each village choosing the plant or animal that best
symbolizes local biodiversity.

Every year we issue postage stamps to celebrate our flora and
fauna. Of course these first day issues raise revenue but more
importantly they create awareness that plants and animals enrich
our lives in ways far beyond their cash value.

This conference has an ambitious agenda. To achieve our
objectives we will need to build on and strengthen partnerships,
between government agencies and donors, governments and NGOs and
local communities, between the public and private sectors and
between countries who have a common regional interest.

There is much to do to protect our global biodiversity
heritage and it will be neither easy nor cheap. This brings us to
issues of financing and the Global Environment Facility.

Indonesia has supported the facility from the outset and was
one of the first developing countries to contribute to it; we
have also benefited from this global fund. One of the issues
before us as parties is to determine whether to accept the
facility as a permanent mechanism for the convention or to retain
it for another year as the interim mechanism.

Whatever we decide, it is clear that facility resources alone
will not be sufficient to support all the activities and programs
that developing countries will need to undertake to effectively
conserve biodiversity.

We will need additional resources both from the donor
community through bilateral assistance and through tapping the
expertise and entrepreneurial skills of the private sector so
that good business becomes biodiversity-friendly business.

Window: There is much to do to protect our global biodiversity
heritage and it will be neither easy nor cheap.