Biodiversity

La Commission de la Sauvegarde des Espèces (CSE) de l'Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature (UICN) décrit par la présente sa position par rapport à l'incidence et l'ampleur croissantes de l'utilisation de poisons qui a provoqué un déclin catastrophique des populations d'animaux sauvages en Afrique, au cours des dernières années. 

This position statement was published by the IUCN Species Survival Commission to outline its position in relation to the increasing incidence and scale of the use of poison causing catastrophic declines in wildlife populations across Africa in recent years. 

Le dispositif juridique français demande aujourd'hui à certaines entreprises de faire figurer dans leurs documents de reporting des informations relatives à la biodiversité. L'objectif est d'informer leurs parties prenantes des relations qu'elles entretiennent avec la biodiversité et des actions qu'elles engagent dans ce domaine.

Some companies are currently required by French legislation to include information on biodiversity in their reports, the aim being to inform their stakeholders about the company’s commitment to biodiversity conservation. However, these reporting documents vary in content, form and method, and some companies admit that they have difficulty writing their biodiversity reporting documents. This study is thus designed to improve companies’ biodiversity reporting methodologies and approaches.

Global spending on nature conservation is currently estimated at around US$50 billion per year. Most of this is public money, yet even this is far from sufficient to maintain biodiversity and the ecosystem services upon which our economies, livelihoods and well-being depend. For this reason, many governments are using payments for ecosystem services (PES) and related market-based instruments to encourage the private sector to do more to protect the environment.

The Journal publishes papers and notes in the field of natural history, broadly defined as the study of organisms in their natural state, relevant to the eastern African region. Of particular interest are contributions that add to our knowledge of the status and conservation of biological diversity in the region. Since the biological landscape is to a large extent shaped by man, papers on ethnobiology are also featured.

Governments, companies, banks and civil society are placing more emphasis on the rigorous application of the mitigation hierarchy to avoid, minimize and compensate for projects' impacts on biodiversity. The final step in the mitigation hierarchy sequence are biodiversity offsets to achieve No Net Loss (NNL) or Net Gain (NG). Thirty-nine countries have existing laws or policies on NNL/NG, biodiversity offsets or compensation, and twenty-two countries are developing them.

The goal of biodiversity offsets -- measurable conservation outcomes resulting from actions designed to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after other appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken -- is to achieve no net loss (or net gain) in biodiversity. This report assesses the conditions under which biodiversity offsets may provide the best outcomes for biodiversity and achieve no net loss.

This document constitutes a summary of the work, studies and reflection initiated by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) following the recommendations of the Contracting Parties in Almeria in January 2008. It provides answers to the request to assess the knowledge gathered on the effects of climate change on the Mediterranean coastal and marine biodiversity.

This fourth and final publication of the IUCN-UNEP/GEF-ABS-LAC Regional Project focuses on applying the different technical elements that encourage capacity building on the issues of Access and Sharing of Benefits Derived from the Utilization of Genetic Resources (ABS).