MEMORANDUM OF COOPERATION FOR SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIODIVERSITY IN WETLANDS SIGNED BY SECRETARIATS OF TWO GLOBAL TREATIES
Press Release
HE/925
MEMORANDUM OF COOPERATION FOR SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIODIVERSITY IN WETLANDS SIGNED BY SECRETARIATS OF TWO GLOBAL TREATIES
19960220 GENEVA, 20 February (UNEP) -- A memorandum of cooperation for the effective conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in wetlands was signed recently by Calestous Juma, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and Delmar Blasco, Secretary-General of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971).The agreement, which contains six articles covering institutional cooperation, exchange of information and experience, coordination of programmes of work, joint conservation work and consultation, reporting and guidance is the first of this nature, signed between two global Convention secretariats working on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, be it species, ecosystems or genes. It also indicates the swift implementation of decision II/13 adopted by the contracting parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting last November in Jakarta, Indonesia, which called for further cooperation and coordination of activities in the field of conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
The Convention on Biological Diversity is a global treaty that was opened for signature during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. It has three aims: conservation, sustainable use of biological diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources. Biological diversity is defined in terms of the number and variety of living organisms on the planet. It covers genes, species and ecosystems which are the outcome of over 3,000 million years of evolution. The Convention entered into force on 29 December 1993. To date, 139 Governments and the European Union have ratified it.
"It gives me great joy that our two Conventions working in the same field are moving closer to achieving the aims of institutional cooperation and the harmonization of procedures as to reporting requirements of the parties", the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity said. "What is most interesting is that we shall be able to exchange scientific and technical information through the clearing-house mechanism which started its pilot phase in 1996."
The Executive Secretary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands said, "This agreement formalizes the spirit of active cooperation which prevails between our two Secretariats, and provides avenues for realizing, in practice, the
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conservation and sustainable use of wetland biodiversity. Our joint presence here today is also a consequence of the adoption by the Ramsar Contracting Parties at Kushiro (Japan) in 1993, of a recommendation calling for closer links and cooperation between us, and demonstrates that both secretariats take it very much to heart to maximize their efforts by working together."
The Convention on Wetlands is a global treaty which forms the framework for international cooperation on the conservation and sustainable use of wetland resources. To date, 92 parties have ratified the Convention. Seven hundred seventy-five wetlands totalling over 52 million hectares have been designated for the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.
Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which administers the Biodiversity Convention Secretariat, called the agreement "a compelling expression of the flexibility and innovation, increasingly evident in the new emerging environmental regimes".
Referring to the enhanced mandate of UNEP in the development of international environmental law, Ms. Dowdeswell emphasized that the memorandum reflected one of UNEP's main priorities in that field. The aim of such agreements was not only the maximization of synergy between the two Conventions but also the creation of a coherent body of international environmental law.
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