MONTREAL, Canada—World leaders on biodiversity protection and conservation are holding successive meetings to prepare recommendations for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties at its 14th Meeting (COP14) in November, and for other upcoming global conferences on biodiversity.
They held the 22nd meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 22) of the CBD from July 2 to 7, and will hold the second meeting of the CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI2) from July 9 to 13.
SBSTTA 22 will highlight various biodiversity concerns, such as: digital sequence information on genetic resources; risk assessment and risk management of living modified organisms (LMOs); synthetic biology; updated scientific assessments of progress toward the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, in particular, targets on which the least progress has been made; protected areas and other measures for enhanced conservation and management; and marine and coastal biodiversity, to name a few.
SBSTTA is an advisory body to the CBD, providing recommendations to the COP to the convention and/or the Meeting of the Parties to the protocols. To date, the Convention has two protocols—the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
Discussions in the SBSTTA revolve around topics along the two protocols coupled with emerging and pressing issues on biodiversity conservation. The CBD has approximately 200 member-countries, including all the 10 Asean member-states.
During the opening plenary, CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Pașca Palmer discussed the importance of accelerating efforts in implementing biodiversity conservation commitments at the national level since parties to the Convention can still do more in two years to move closer to the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Palmer emphasized the need to “build a strong case for biodiversity” by calling on scientists and practitioners to join hands in fostering “transformational approaches to address the root causes of ecosystem degradation.”
SBSTTA Chairman Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim, who is also the executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), highlighted the importance of taking effective and urgent action to conserve biodiversity during the opening session of the 22nd meeting of SBSTTA. Lim was elected chairman of SBSTTA in December 2016 during the COP13th to the CBD in Cancun, Mexico, and has chaired SBSTTA 21.
“The Parties to the Convention are now close to achieving the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets which will lay the groundwork for defining the long-term 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, where transformational change is needed for biodiversity to address the needs of a warming world, burgeoning population and increasing economic inequality in an effective way,” Lim said. A Filipino, Lim was the immediate past head of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Philippines’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
For the first time, the meeting will tackle Digital Sequence Information (DSI) which is considered to be one of the most pressing concerns for discussion in the SBSTTA 22.
DSI is a collection of deposited genetic information of various species in computers, gadgets and databases from years of studies conducted.
For example, a researcher conducting a study on a particular species will gather genetic information and sequence analysis of gene information. These information will later on be deposited to a database and be accessed by various individuals with various interests. In the information age, when knowledge is considered a raw material, these genetic information, through the aid of emerging technologies, such as synthetic biology using gene editing could be used for various commercial purposes.
This unregulated leeway of data access on genetic-resources information raised concerns on the Access and Benefit Sharing under the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention. Who owns the rights on these genetic information? How will products derived from the genetic resources affect existing trade and value chain arrangements? Lim stated that it is important for digital-sequence information to be inclusive so that it would benefit many people, not only a few.
Once adopted, the recommendations at the SBSTTA Meeting will be considered during the CBD COP14 which will be held in Egypt in November this year.
As ACB executive director, Lim also puts forward the importance of biodiversity in the Asean region, stating that it is home to almost 20 percent of the world’s plants and animals, 35 percent of global mangrove forests, 34 percent of the world’s coral reefs, and has over 200 million hectares of forest cover.
However, the Asean region is now facing a serious threat of biodiversity loss. According to the Second Edition of the Asean Biodiversity Outlook by the ACB, the region is projected to lose 70 percent to 90 percent of habitats and 13 percent to 42 percent of species by 2100. Assessments of forest ecosystems indicate an average annual rate of loss of 1.26 percent from 2000 to 2010. The collective actions of the AMS have caused this rate to decline to 0.26 percent in the last five years (2010 to 2015).