Streamlining
Biological Conventions Could Save Millions of Dollars for Conserving World’s
Wildlife (UNEP)
Nairobi/Cambridge 15 February, 2001 - Millions of
dollars a year could become available for conserving wildlife, from whales and
dolphins to corals, fishes and birds, if international environmental
conventions are streamlined.
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said yesterday: "Over the years we
have seen a proliferation of conventions, agreements and memorandums of
understanding (MOUs) covering everything from migratory birds to regional
seas".
“If we can streamline the way these many conventions
and agreements operate, then there could be substantial savings. Some experts
have suggested up to 40 per cent of the current costs or several million
dollars. The winners here will be the world's wildlife," he said.
UNEP believes that if the over 30 active
wildlife-related conventions and agreements can be streamlined, it could act as
a blueprint for improving the efficiency and delivery of other environmental conventions such as those
covering climate and chemicals.
Mr. Toepfer was yesterday in Cambridge, England, to
learn at first hand how a pioneering project to be launched this year by UNEP's
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and UNEP's
Division of Environmental Conventions (DEC) in
Nairobi, Kenya, will evaluate how best to harmonize the national reporting of
five, global, conventions by the countries involved.
These are the Conventions on: Biological Diversity
(CBD); Migratory Species (CMS); International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ; Wetlands (Ramsar) and World Heritage.
Countries, or parties, to these conventions are
required to report periodically on actions taken to implement these agreements
and the implications for the plants and animals covered by them.
Dr Mark Collins, director of UNEP-WCMC, said
yesterday: "For many developing countries and some developed ones,
national reporting of all these conventions has become an excessive burden,
stretching resources and funneling funds away from vital conservation. What
they are asking for is a streamlined approach
to reporting, with less bureaucracy and more
opportunity for direct action to conserve species and ecosystems".
The new project, the findings of which will be
reported to the World Commission on Sustainable Development taking place in
Johannesburg in 2002, has secured the agreement of seven countries who will
take part. These are Belgium, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Panama, Seychelles and
the United Kingdom. It is also
possible that a Mediterranean country will take part
with support from the Barcelona Convention.
UNEP is providing US dollars 135,000 for the pilot
project. Dr Collins said there were a range of measures to be evaluated. These
measures are aimed at cutting the "red tape" surrounding reporting at
the national level.
For example, sometimes the data on the species
covered by the various conventions are held by different government ministries
which can make pooling the information and thus streamlining reporting more
arduous.
Dr Collins said they were also hoping to identify
ways to harness new technologies, such as the Internet, to make national
reporting more efficient.
He highlighted "protected areas" which are
relevant to more than a dozen international agreements and programmes. In
Europe, for example, there are some areas with five or more international
designations, including listing under the Ramsar and World Heritage
conventions.
"The information required for each of the these
agreements and programmes is essentially the same. New technology should allow
countries to streamline their reporting and avoid the duplication of preparing
separate reports for each one," said Dr Collins.
The pilot project is part of a wider effort to get
the various biologically related conventions agreements, protocols and MOUs
working more effectively together. One problem is that many of the secretariats
of such conventions are scattered across the globe, complicating efforts to
streamline areas of work where they may
overlap. Attempts have been made to resolve
this.
Last summer the United Kingdom and Dutch governments
agreed to relocate the Eurobats, a
Europe-wide agreement on bats; ASCOBANS, which covers cetaceans in the Baltic
and North seas, and the African and Eurasian Water Birds agreement, with the
CMS secretariat in Bonn.
Bringing other conventions, agreements, protocols and
MOUs covering regional turtle agreements, whales, straddling stocks and marine
life in the Antarctica, under one roof might also deliver greater efficiencies
and release more funds for conservation and protection.
UNEP has launched discussions about greater
cooperation between regional seas and regional fisheries agreements.
Robert Hepworth, Deputy Director of DEC, said
yesterday:"We believe that substantial savings can be made. But to do this
we have to first invest in the kind of pilot project to be launched by
WCMC-UNEP and DEC. If such projects are to be successful and concluded swiftly,
we need financial assistance from donor
countries as a matter of urgency".
Whether streamlining and harmonizing these
international agreements can be achieved under the current framework of
international environmental governance remains to be seen.
Some experts have suggested that an enhanced UNEP may
be needed to secure the support of the various secretariats to the
environmental conventions and treaties.
At the twenty-first session of UNEP's Governing
Council, which met in Nairobi between 5 and 9 of February, countries agreed to
establish an intergovernmental group of ministers or their representatives to
study how to strengthen international environmental governance in the run up to
Rio +10.
The group's first meeting will be within three months
and is likely to coincide with the meeting of the Commission on Sustainable
Development taking place in New York in April.
For more information please contact: Nick Nuttall,
Media Officer, UNEP, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi;
tel.: 254 2 623381 or Mobile, 254 0733 632755, nick.nuttall@unep.org, or
Tore Brevik, UNEP Spokesman on tel.: 254 2 623292, tore.brevik@unep.org
Contact Jorge Illueca, Director of the Division of
Environmental Conventions on tel.: 254 2 4011 or Robert Hepworth, Deputy
Director of the Division of Environmental Conventions on tel, 254 2
3260 or Dr Mark Collins at WCMC-UNEP on tel 44 1223
277314
Notes to editors:
UNEP's 2000-2001 and 2002-2003 work programmes include harmonization
of reporting as a key activity.
In November 2000, the General Assembly of the United
Nations adopted resolution 55/198 on enhancing
Complementarities among international instruments relating to the
environment and sustainable development, which specifically encourages
conferences of the parties to promote streamlining of national reporting.
On 22 January 2001, at its inaugural meeting, the
Environmental Management Group decided to establish an Issue Management Group
on this subject, with a particular remit to assess the relevance of current
work under the biodiversity-related conventions to other multilateral
agreements, such as the chemicals-related
conventions.
In October 2000, UNEP convened a workshop at the
UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre in order to explore ideas for a more
harmonized approach to national reporting under international agreements and to
develop pilot projects for testing those ideas. The workshop took as its
starting point an earlier feasibility study
undertaken by the Centre to identify opportunities
for harmonizing information management among five, biodiversity-related,
conventions.
The members of the pilot, streamlining of national
reporting, project have now been agreed. The outcome will be reviewed by the
Environmental Management Group and presented to the 2002 Rio Plus 10 summit in
Johannesburg.
UNEP News Release 01/23
Dr David Duthie (Programme Co-ordinator)
UNEP/GEF Biodiversity Planning Support Programme
T-133
PO Box 30552
Gigiri
Nairobi
KENYA
Tel: +254-2-623717
Fax: +254-2-624268/623162
E-mail: david.duthie@unep.org