Guyana comes closer to meeting UN Biodiversity targets

Jul 10, 2011 News

---

… 8.5% of landmass to be protected under Protected Areas Bill

The recent passage of the Protected Areas Bill puts Guyana  much closer to meeting obligations as a signatory of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
According to Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, Iwokrama, Kaieteur National Park and Konashen which are already established as protected areas, account for five percent of the country’s landmass while proposed areas at Kanuku and Shell Beach will bring the total up by another 3.5 percent, to 8.5 percent.
The figures are important against the background of one of the specific targets of the UN Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. The Strategic Plan itself is an integral part of the 2011-2020 United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.
Last October, in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties adopted a revised and updated Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011-2020 period. The plan is the overarching framework on biodiversity, not only for the biodiversity-related conventions, but for the entire United Nations system.
Some of the Aichi targets are to halve and, where feasible, bring close to zero the rate of loss of natural habitats, including forests; to restore at least 15 percent of degraded areas through conservation and restoration activities and to make special efforts to reduce the pressures faced by coral reefs.
Of particular relevance to this bill is the target that calls for nations to establish a conservation target of 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 percent of marine and coastal areas.
In full this target reads: By 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland-water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape.
According to a provisional technical rationale written after the tenth conference of parties in Japan, the target falls under the third strategic goal which seeks to improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
The rationale continues to say that currently, some 13 per cent of terrestrial areas and 5 per cent of coastal areas are protected, while very little of the open oceans are protected. The document posits that reaching the proposed target implies a modest increase in terrestrial protected areas globally, with an increased focus on representativity and management effectiveness, together with major efforts to expand marine protected areas.
It also calls for the integration of protected areas into the wider land- and seascape, bearing in mind the importance of complementarity and spatial configuration.
In doing so, the ecosystem approach should be applied taking into account ecological connectivity and the concept of ecological networks, including connectivity for migratory species.
Protected areas, according to the rationale, should also be established and managed in close collaboration with, and through participatory and equitable processes that recognize and respect the rights of indigenous and local communities, and vulnerable populations.
It is noteworthy that in the Protected Areas Bill 2011, not only are Amerindian Village Councils recognized as one of the bodies that can request a tract of land be declared a protected area but that Part Five of the bill is entirely focused on the establishment of Amerindian Protected Areas. This section of the Bill allows for “village lands or any part thereof to be recognized as an Amerindian Protected Area.”
It also makes the provision that an Amerindian Village Council may also request and receive technical advice and assistance from the authorities in meeting the application requirements.
According to Persaud, by 2010 signatory countries should have attained at least 10 percent of landmass being declared a protected area.
He pointed out that the passage of this bill puts Guyana that much closer to meeting these targets, since we will have reached at least 8.5 percent of that target.
Persaud pointed out that not only is the Protected Areas legislation compatible with several international conventions; but the bill also fits neatly into a number of negotiations that are taking place within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
He pointed out that Guyana is a permanent advocate in terms of REDD Plus and the associated incentives of the scheme. In December last year, the Conference of Parties in Cancun, Mexico included not only forest conservation but also the conservation of biodiversity. The Minister raised the point that the passing of this legislation will see the furthering of these negotiations and their conclusion while in the International arena, such a move not only ensures greater compliance with the International conventions on this issue but that Guyana will gain greater credibility as they continue their negotiations in the climate change arena.

---

---