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.