South Africa has sent a high powered delegation led by the Department of Environmental Affairs to the tenth meeting of the tenth Conference of Parties (COP10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which started in Nagoya, Japan today. The conference will be held until 29 October 2010.
The delegation comprises senior government officials within the environmental sector from national departments, provincial departments and conservation authorities. The Minister and Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica and Rejoice Mabudafhasi, respectively, are expected to join the South African delegation later for the High Level Segment of the negotiations.
The CBD is anchored on three key objectives namely:
● the conservation
● sustainable use of biological diversity
● the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of resources.
South Africa subscribes to these three key objectives and is a signatory to the Convention. Sustainable utilisation of natural resources is at the forefront of South Africa’s approach to development as articulated in the National Strategy for Sustainable Development and other legislative and strategic frameworks. The CBD's programme of work is organised around thematic programmes of works which set out key issues for consideration, identify potential outputs, and suggest a timetable and means for achieving these objectives.
South Africa supports the African position calling for the development of a protocol to give effect to the objective of the CBD of ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, which has not been effectively implemented.
South Africa will also support recommendations that articulate the role of biodiversity in climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, throughout the discussions, South Africa will take care not to confound the biodiversity discussions with the greater global negotiations on climate change. In all South Africa will strive to ensure that the biodiversity response to the climate change crisis is effective and that all political and financial implications are taken into account before the final decisions are taken and the global community moves into further action.
In view of the South African Government’s commitment to a new growth path in the form of a green economy, South Africa will advance positions that support a move towards implementation of economic instruments, including where appropriate, market-based mechanisms for biodiversity conservation.
Proceedings of the conference will be available at:
For media queries and interviews with delegates attending conference contact:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
