Biological diversity

The report reflects the progress made by BBP in 2008.

The report reflects the progress made by BBP last year. The stories selected are a balanced representation of BBP's work in 2009 to deliver the IUCN programme for 2009-2012. Intrinsically linked to biodiversity are four of humankind's greatest challenges and the four focus areas of the IUCN programme: climate change, energy, livelihoods and economics. The performance assessment at the end of the report shows progress against the planned annual results.

This background paper offers for the first time a comparative analysis of the 28 overseas entities of the European Union; its purpose is to establish the current state of existing knowledge on the impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of the European Union overseas entities. It starts with a thematic analysis presenting the transversal threats on overseas entities in the face of climate change.

This assessment is the first overview of the conservation status of 877 northern African freshwater species belonging to five taxonomic groups—fish, molluscs, dragonflies and damselflies, freshwater crabs and aquatic plants—in accordance with the IUCN regional Red List guidelines. Species at risk of regional extinction are mapped and conservation measures are proposed to reduce the probability of future declines.

Lack of readily available information on the status and distribution of inland water taxa in western Africa explains why biodiversity is often poorly represented within the development planning process. In response to this need for information, a regional assessment of the status and distribution of 1,395 taxa of freshwater fishes, molluscs, odonates, crabs, and selected families of aquatic plants from across western Africa was conducted.

This study focused specifically on one perceived opportunity for developing IPES, namely the concept of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). REDD refers to any conservation or sustainable land-use initiative that effectively mitigates a real deforestation/degradation threat in a given area.

Traditional medicine in Viet Nam comprises two forms - Traditional Vietnamese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Both are thousands of years old. The use of these traditional medicine systems has seen a significant resurgence since Viet Nam’s independence in 1945, promoted by government policies that have enabled the development of both traditional and western medicines.

This published document consists of two separate reports produced between 2005 and 2007. These reports have been maintained as separate reports in order to maintain their respective integrities as source documents. The first report ‘A Preliminary Investigation into the Use and Trade of Wild Plants and Animals in Traditional Medicine Systems in Cambodia’ by Naomi Walston represents a preliminary examination of the use of Cambodia’s wildlife in Traditional Medicine (TM) systems.