The 2014 Conference of the Parties (COP 12) for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be a crucial meeting for measuring progress towards achievement of the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan and its component 20 targets – termed the Aichi Targets – as well as making significant progress towards the vision of a more balanced relationship between people and the rest of biodiversity by 2050. Many key issues have been left for this COP by negotiators at earlier meetings who were unable to settle financial issues, articulate clearly the Aichi Targets for national implementation by 2020, or to provide clear guidance on capacity-building for developing states. This paper utilizes 22 stakeholder interviews taken at the 2012 Hyderabad COP to develop discussion of ongoing issues in the CBD negotiations. These interviews yielded a number of tractable policy opportunities available for the 2014 Conference to create significant space for developing countries to contribute effectively to global achievement of the Aichi Targets. Breakthroughs and developments at the COP, despite the inevitability of some difficult discussions, will be provided by developing country perspectives. As we enter the second half of the 2011-2020 decade, developing countries must be placed at the centre of efforts to improve sustainable use, conservation and benefit sharing of biodiversity around the world.
Keywords: Aichi Targets, Biodiversity conservation, Financial mechanism, Developing countries
The Working Paper is available here (pdf).
