In its Opening Statement to the ongoing 11th Session of the Committee of Parties (COP11) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), being held at Hyderabad, India, the CBD Alliance urged Parties to uphold the triple objectives of CBD as the foundation for all aspects of the Convention: from elaboration of decisions to implementation to monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
In the Statement, the CBD Alliance strongly rejected any regression on these objectives in any new decisions, and in implementing the CBD, and the retirement of existing decisions that still require implementation.
The Alliance urged Parties to ensure that this is not happening and the following fundamental principles are reaffirmed throughout:
? The value of biodiversity and the conservation of life itself well beyond placing a price tag on it.
? Sustainable use and equitable benefit-sharing
? The Precautionary Principle
? The ecosystem approach
? The vital role of women, and of traditional knowledge, livelihoods, institutions, and rights of the primary defenders of biodiversity: indigenous peoples and local communities, including fisherfolk, peasant farmers, and pastoralists.
On marine and coastal issues, the Statement underlined the importance of taking forward the process of describing and identifying Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) with the full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and through the integration of their traditional, scientific, technical, and technological knowledge.
On protected areas, the Statement called for improved implementation of Element 2 of the Programme of Work on Protected Areas; including through collaboratively developing criteria for Aichi Target 11’s other effective area-based conservation measures, such as self-defined Indigenous Peoples and Local Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs).
The CBD Alliance, founded after the 6th COP in Den Haag, the Netherlands in April 2002, is a loose network of activists and representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
community-based organizations (CBOs), social movements and Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations (IPOs) advocating for improved and informed participation in CBD processes.