24-25 March 1998
Mexico City, Mexico
Introduction
DIVERSITAS is a programme established in 1991 to promote the science of biodiversity, including its origin, composition, ecosystem function, maintenance and conservation. It entered a new phase in 1995, expanding its activities, incorporating new sponsoring organisations and enlarging its administrative capacity. It is co-sponsored by IUBS, SCOPE, UNESCO, ICSU, IGBP-GCTE and IUMS. DIVERSITAS has ten Programme Elements each focused on a fundamental scientific question about biodiversity, which are outlined in an operational plan.
In its restructuring, the DIVERSITAS programme has endeavoured to co-ordinate its activities in close co-operation with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A workshop held prior to the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 3) in Montreal is an example of this co-operation, all of which led to the signing of the Memorandum of Co-operation between the CBD Secretariat and DIVERSITAS in 1997. In accord with the terms of reference of the Memorandum and the Article 24 (d), the Executive Secretary of the CBD Secretariat requested that DIVERSITAS carry out a scientific review of Articles 7, 8, 9, 10 and 14 of the CBD.
There is a growing need to enhance the ability of the Convention to draw on available scientific and technical knowledge to further the implementation of the Convention. This need became apparent following a preliminary review of the first 80 national reports submitted to the Secretariat of the Convention on its implementation at the national level.
Prior to the DIVERSITAS Convenors' (of the Programme Elements) Meeting held in Mexico City in March 1998, a Workshop of DIVERSITAS experts was convened to review Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, and 14 of the CBD. The agenda of this Workshop was prepared in close co-operation with the Convention Secretariat and other relevant agencies. The report which follows is the outcome of the Workshop and the attendees hope the recommendations will be of use to both the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD and SBSTTA.
For each of the articles that were reviewed, a rationale and specific recommendations are provided. It is recognised that the implementation of these recommendations should be in accordance with national, regional, and global priorities and needs within the broader framework provided by the CBD.
General Recommendations
One of the key steps to be taken in implementing the Convention is to find new ways of linking different scientific disciplines and of breaking down artificial boundaries, especially between basic and applied science and socio-economic and cultural research. The need to continueto apply pure biological and ecological research in support of understanding and explaining the fundamental basis of biodiversity science is paramount. In addition, new integrated scientific programmes are needed that concentrate on the application of science in managing and sustainably using biodiversity in different societies.
The scientific community should work to ensure that both an ecosystem approach and a species-based approach are combined, using the best scientific and technical knowledge to enable biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and human welfare to be managed in an integrated way. The application of the ecosystem approach, where conservation and sustainable use are seen in close context, requires the development of management tools. Ecosystem modelling, in which socio-economic factors are included, needs to be further developed. Conservation and sustainable use practices outside protected areas need to be strengthened.
Article 7. Identification and Monitoring
Article 7(a)
Rationale
The characterisation and quantification of the world's biodiversity depends crucially on knowledge of its different components as well as of the magnitude of the interactions between them and the characteristic scales of space and time in which they operate.
Probably only 13% of species on Earth have been discovered and described (Global Biodiversity Assessment 1995), and the diversity of taxonomic groups such as bacteria, archaea, fungi, and protozoa is only beginning to be appreciated.
The lack of professionally trained taxonomists for many economically and socially important groups of organisms and the general decrease in the numbers of such taxonomists being trained, has been recognised by the COP of the CBD (Decision II-2) in the establishment of a concerted and sustained Global Taxonomy Initiative. Detailed actions and implementations relating to this need were explored in a recent meeting organised by the Smithsonian Institution and Environment Australia, the results of which are published as the"Darwin Declaration". Those objectives outlined by the Declaration need to be achieved in the broad sense at the same time as the specific recommendations below are implemented. The value of taxonomy, as a means to predict the response and potentials of related organisms, is of considerable importance to agriculture, human health, fisheries and forestry.
The genetic variation within populations, between species, and at levels above the species is poorly understood, but is essential for understanding the origin and maintenance of biodiversity, ecosystems and their conservation and sustainable use.
Recommendations
Action should be taken to accelerate the inventory of the world's species diversity according to a set of well-defined priorities, including those mentioned in Annex 1 of the CBD.
The development of more efficient systems for the naming and registering the names of newly discovered organisms of all kinds should be promoted, in co-operation with the internationally mandated scientific bodies and the International Committee on Bionomenclature. The needs of countries with few taxonomists and limited literature resources should be taken into account, and name changes that do not arise from new knowledge should be further minimised.
Efforts should be made to accelerate the genetic characterisation of populations and species. Research should focus on, but not be restricted to, the needs of agriculture, including food security, human health, forestry and fisheries, economic development, sustainable use, ecosystem structure and function, and conservation, and as noted in Annex 1 of the CBD.
Agreement should be reached on common procedures for inventorying micro-organisms and other poorly known taxonomic groups, with emphasis on those important for human health and biotechnology.
Efforts should be made to accelerate the production of national and regional Floras, Faunas and species surveys of Microbiota, field guides, and electronic interactive identification tools and other innovative approaches. Theseproducts should be readily accessible (free of charge whenever possible) to potential users.
Produce an electronic list of the worlds species that is as complete and reliable as possible. The Species 2000 project that is associated with DIVERSITAS, has been initiated to fill this need, and Parties may wish to endorse this initiative.
Accelerate the characterisation and classification of habitats, ecosystems, landscapes and seascapes according to national, regional and global needs and priorities.
Improve techniques to measure ecosystem structure and function and undertake experiments to clarify the relationships between biological diversity and ecosystem resilience.
Following established procedures such as those of IUCN, a"Red List" approach should be developed for the identification of threatened habitats and ecosystems in order to respond to human impacts and promote resource management and sustainable use.
Develop models and perform experiments to determine the effects of diversity at the level of genes, species and functional groups on basic ecosystem processes and ecosystem stability.
Article 7(b)
Rationale
SBSTTA has recognised the need for a global scheme for monitoring components of biodiversity to determine the extent to which the objectives of the Convention are being met. This is also reflected in the decision to produce a Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO), which will largely be based on the individual Country Reports. Issues to be addressed include:
It should be noted that all the above require long-term commitments by the Parties.
Recommendations
A range of appropriate tools (including aerial photography, satellite imagery for surface temperature, height, and multi-spectral colour, multi-beam and side-scan sonar systems to measure aquatic bathymetry, and physical models to measure patterns of hydrodynamic processes) should be used to obtain land/water-use statistics and a broad overview of temporal changes in the extent and fragmentation of vegetation types and other land/seascape features and to design other monitoring schemes.
A network of long-term monitoring sites should be established and maintained in both terrestrial and marine realms to document temporal changes in components of biodiversity and associated processes. This should build on existing field stations, marine laboratories, monitoring schemes and sites such as biosphere reserves and other similar areas, and should address an increasing range of taxa.
Methods should be developed for standardising monitoring techniques and steps taken to co-ordinate and disseminate these.
Greatly increased efforts should be made to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the status of species, both in terms of taxonomic groups covered and geographic scale, following the Red List approach. Such Red Lists should be revised on a regular basis wherever possible.
Methods should be identified and selected among those already existing, or developed if necessary, to assess the status of ecosystems and habitats; the status of fragile (ecosystems easily subject to human destruction) should be monitored according to the Red List strategy proposed in recommendation 7a.
Efforts should be made to inventory those species that are being exploited by humans as food, fuel, fodder, timber, medicine and industrial uses.
Methods should be developed to determine which of the species identified in (5) are sustainably exploited by humans.
Rapid assessment and monitoring technologies (RAT) should be promoted and their use encouraged.
A review should be undertaken of the feasibility of applying the concepts of"indicator groups" or"indicator species" as a means of monitoring components of biodiversity. Indicators should not be used as a substitute for basic information on biodiversity.
Scientific criteria for monitoring should be applied to: a) evaluation of traditional use of resources, b) evaluation of sustainable use of species and ecosystems, c) development and evaluation of land and water use practices, and d) development of criteria for species and habitat protection (see Article 8).
The development of international programmes of an intermediate time scale should be stimulated to assess the impact on biodiversity of large-scale bioturbation phenomena such as El Nino, extensive and historically unusual fires, and river dynamics, by monitoring selected sites.
The development of a biological diversity component should be undertaken within existing global monitoring programmes such as GOOS, GTOS, etc.
Article 7(c)
Rationale
Human activities impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Intensification in land use, environmental pollution, use of fire in
deforestation and shifting cultivation, etc. adversely affect biodiversity
at three levels of organisation: genetic, organismal and ecological. Human
activities also affect biodiversity indirectly through the combustion of
fossil fuels and the consequent alteration of the atmospheric composition
and the climate; the burning of fuels and other activities influence the
chemical composition of the environment as a whole, not only in the atmosphere,
but also at the levels of the oceans (both the water column and sediments)
and soils. The economic and social problems resulting from over-exploitation
and loss of biodiversity can be prevented or ameliorated by understanding
their causal relationships with biodiversity. Only a handful of the many
services provided by biodiversity currently have a market value. This gap
in our understanding leads to under-evaluation of natural ecosystems and
over-exploitation. Consequently, a quantification and valuation of all the
services that biodiversity provides to humans will be useful. A better
understanding of the socio-economic determinants of over-exploitation will
allow the identification of incentives to prevent over-exploitation.
Recommendations
A better understanding of the relationship between different activities and their direct and indirect effects on biodiversity is needed. These studies should encompass the major ecosystems of each biome, and use all available tools from manipulative experiments to descriptive studies and the analysis of long term data sets.
Research needs to be undertaken so as to identify thresholds in the response of biodiversity to intensification of land and water use. (Ecological systems often present a non-linear response to human intervention such as minor changes in biodiversity due to increasing levels of use, up to a point beyond which dramatic losses of biodiversity occur.)
Research should be carried out to assess the impact on biodiversity of all measures intended to improve environmental conditions. For example, it would be important to assess the effects of plantation forestry for carbon sequestration and"sustainable" timber production in areas of potentially species-rich forests.
Research on the impact of climatic change on biodiversity should be strengthened and integrated with research underpinning the implementation of the Climate Convention. One of the ways this can be carried out is through the utilisation of existing global and regional pollution programmes.
More research is needed to have a better understanding of natural vs. human-driven changes in biodiversity.
Article 7(d)
Rationale
The accessibility of data from systematic inventories and monitoring is essential for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Unfortunately, much of the information on the three billion specimens which reside in existing collections, and of the relatedliterature, is not integrated or easily accessible. Furthermore, the fact that the vast majority of biological collections and systematic research centres are located in the developed world, whereas most biodiversity is to be found in developing nations, is an impediment that needs to be addressed. Detail on this is provided in the Darwin Declaration.
Recommendations
Priorities should be established for databasing the massive amount of information in existing taxonomic collections and associated literature, that is currently not readily accessible.
The electronic capture of the above data, in conjunction with the CBD Clearing House Mechanism, should be supported and accelerated.
More sophisticated biodiversity information systems, including innovative software and hardware advances, should be developed.
A major effort should be undertaken to establish electronic interchange within and between systematic research collections by providing free access on the Internet.
Systems for data and information exchange should be developed, or when applicable, reinforced, particularly in those countries where scientific libraries are scarce or absent.