As we reach the end of the 2011-2020 decade, world governments are running against time in order to negotiate and define new global targets and commitments that can successfully curb our ecological crisis.

In the past 10 years, we have gained more knowledge, more tools, more awareness and more coordinated action towards both the climate and biodiversity crisis. The results, however, are very disappointing, with the world failing in achieving most of the global goals and targets agreed through multilateral environmental processes (Kyoto Protocol, Millenium Development Goals, Aichi Biodiversity Targets, etc). This major political failure has been followed by a drastic decline in the health of our ecosystems and physical systems, further aggravating the climate and biodiversity crisis.

During the same 10 years, the youth movement has expanded and flourished as young people were able to empower themselves, to take part in decision-making and advocate for their own rights. Children and youth are still marginalized and are found in vulnerable situations in most countries of the world, but recent coordinated efforts have led to the development of several policies and legal and institutional arrangements to address these power asymmetries, giving space to young people to voice their perspectives and influence decisions that will affect their lives.

In this context, the Global youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) has been created as collective youth-led effort to empower, mobilize and coordinate youth action and engagement in biodiversity governance, and was able to ignite a global movement, bringing together the hearts, minds and souls of young people around the world that are passionate and committed to reshape our society to one that can live in harmony with nature. After 10 years of engagement and youth-led contributions to biodiversity, it brings together more than a million young people in more than 145 countries in the world.

GYBN has started a consultative process in order to gather the voices and perspectives of young people on the future of biodiversity, and youth representatives from more than 130 countries have voiced their desire to help build a world that is reconnected with nature, that celebrates its diversity, appreciates all of its blessings and recognizes that we are part of it.

Young people are yearning for a world that fosters equity for nature and people, sustainable living and keeps the integrity of our biodiversity, which truly is our life-supporting system. (www.gybn.org/policy)

Young people around the world understand that the ecological crisis encroaching on our livelihoods and future on Earth is deeply connected to the underlying inequalities and power asymmetries that shape our economic and social systems. Furthermore, these systems are underpinned by values, beliefs and principles that reinforce these inequalities and hinder progress towards a just and sustainable future.

The recent IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services shows that transformations towards sustainability are more likely when efforts are directed at key leverage points including values and action; inequalities; justice and inclusion in conservation; reducing consumption and waste; education and knowledge generation and sharing; and recognizing diverse visions of a good life.

Following this understanding, young people recognize that short-term, quick-fixes and shallow solutions are not the answer to address deep societal struggles rooted in core values and principles mainstreamed in modern society.

The world’s biggest problems stem from systemic inequalities with historical roots that continue to the present. These can only be solved through a profound, systemic, whole of society transformation and the unwavering pursuit of social justice, from values, principles and behaviours, to institutions, political, legal and economic systems.

2020 was supposed to be the year for the whole world to galvanize support to make this commitment towards this transformation, towards this shared vision for the future. However, 2020 has been very different – Our society was disrupted by a global pandemic brought to us by our own degradation of our ecosystems, pushing us very close to the brink: break it or make it? Can we overcome our resistance to change our values, principles and practices and start moving towards this vision of a future in peace, equity and harmony with nature?

While governments, corporations and institutions are still paralyzed and reluctant to step towards transformation, young people are taking ownership over their future and leading by example. Global movements such as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, Fridays for Future and so many other groups are using creativity and collective action to bring change to the ground and push those that actually have the power, the responsibility and the resources to make commitments and take actions to tackle this ecological crisis.

How can we all support this movement?

1. Engage in intergenerational dialogues and discussions, bringing youth representatives, youth groups and organizations to voice their perspectives and ideas
2. Support youth-led initiatives financially and in-kind allowing for young people to take ownership of their own actions and implement their ideas
3. Promote full and effective participation of young people in decision-making, planning and implementation processes
4. Respect and fulfill young people’s rights and intergenerational equity (fairness and justice between and within generations): Stop youth tokenism, manipulation and use of young people’s labour without proper compensation

Young people around the world are taking the lead and showing the way forward! GYBN invites all of you to join the movement!

https://fornature.undp.org/content/fornature/en/home/open-letter.html

www.gybn.org/policy

KILUM-IJIM FOREST

Kilum-Ijim forest is in North West Region –Cameroon. It is part of montane forest in Bamenda Highland Forest and produces Oku White Honey- certified as Geographic Indication Product. It covers 20.000 hectares with a peak at 3011m and a large Crater lake called Lake Oku.  Kilum Mountain is the second-highest mountain in Cameroon after Mount Cameroon. It has a rich ecosystem with non-timber forest products like Oku White honey, mushrooms, medicinal plants, spices, etc. Oku White Honey produced by trees like Nuxia congesta, Prunus africana, Schefflera abyssinica and Schefflera manni. Only 2 of these products are certified in Cameroon with the other being the Penja White pepper.

These trees are watershed friendly and harbours endangered birds like Bannerman’s Turaco and some trees critically endangered in IUCN Redlist like Newtonia camerunensis.

FACTS ABOUT CAMGEW IN KILUM-IJIM FOREST

CAMGEW from 2012 to 2020 planted 87000 bee loving trees in the Kilum-Ijim forest. She has developed 3 tree nurseries of 80.000 trees.CAMGEW has trained 1388 bee farmers in honey production, honey and its product quality control and bees wax extraction. She has also distributed above 1.354 beehives to trained bee farmers and organized them into 6 Oku White Honey cooperatives located around this forest. Women were allocated at least 30% and youths at least 30% of the positions to encourage them in apiculture and forest conservation. She created a CAMGEW-HONEYSHOP in Bamenda to convert bee farmers honey to money.The Honeyshop sales various honey, bees wax, candles, bee suits, bee smokers, honey wine, honey juice, bees wax soap and powder soap, body lotion, etc. 142 youths and women have been trained on entrepreneurship in honey value chain development; on transformation of bees wax to soap, powder soap, lotion and candle and also on transformation of honey to honey juice and honey wine production.

CAMGEW succeeded to create 2 Forest multi-stakeholder platforms to exchange forest ideas and assist in decision making. 7 community Forest Management Institutions have been reorganized and 772 farmers trained on agroforestry techniques.

Creating alternatives livelihoods

1580 women have been trained on business skills and 1325 women assisted financially through loans [US$ 5500 monthly]. This served as forest microfinance for women. 44 teenage boys and girls received vocational training to recycle plastics and clothing’s with African fabric to jewels, hand bags, belts, etc. 1076 women and girls received counseling and where necessary were supported financially through microfinance scheme. 78 teenage mothers received training on transformation of local food.

Bushfire Prevention

Bushfires reduced from above 7 in 2012 to zero in 2018 and 2019. In 2014, one bushfire destroyed about 1000 hectares of the forest.  In 2017, one bushfire occurred and more than 70 community members mainly bee farmers went to the forest to tackle and only less than 5 hectares were destroyed. No bee farmers want to see his/her beehive burnt so in solidarity they prevent bushfire and thereby protect forest because APICULTURE = JOBS = HONEY = MONEY = FOREST CONSERVATION. CAMGEW-Honeyshop becomes a CLIMATE SMARTSHOP because it is an opportunity cost to forgone bushfire that cause climate change. The market for honey must be available to engage communities to protect the forest.

Avoiding Specie Extinction

CAMGEW planted 3700 trees of Newtonia camerunensis -a native tree of Kilum-Ijim forest known to grow only in Cameroon dry tropic at Bamenda Highlands and Bamboutous area. It is Critically Endangered as defined by IUCN Redlist. Kilum-Ijim forest is the largest remaining forest. Scientists say it has been difficult to nurse but CAMGEW succeeded to nurse 3700 seedlings. CAMGEW has also protected the Kilum-Ijim forest as the largest remaining habitat for Endangered Bannerman’s Turaco which is a red-feathered bird. Its feathers are used traditionally to crown notables.

BEE FARMERS IN TEARS WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

Due to the irregular arrival of annual rainfall around Kilum-Ijim forest bees are confused. This affects honey production. In 2018, rains came early and trees developed vegetation instead of flowers as expected. There was 40% honey reduction. The period of honey harvesting could not be determined because as more farmers waited for flowers to be produced more vegetation was produced instead of flowers. Bee farmers who harvested earlier as ending April were better off though in tears than those who harvested at the end of April and in May which is the usual harvesting time. This has been occurring. Bee farmers need alternative actions to adapt to and/or mitigate climate change. Bee farmers have been trained agroforestry, organic coffee as alternatives.

THE WAY FORWARD

CAMGEW believes that the future of our mother planet-earth is in the hands of men and women, young and old and also that this planet can be sustained by putting social and environmental justice at the centre of development.

The 1992 Earth Summit brought this risk to the attention of world governments, spurring ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity and establishment of its Secretariat to coordinate progress. Yet three decades later, biodiversity loss has intensified. The cause is clear; the surge in human populations has accelerated the destruction of wild spaces and intensified the use of developed lands. Should we accept the inevitability of biodiversity loss? Yes, so long as we also accept responsibility for the destruction of knowledge at unprecedented scale. The books of life, the genomes of every one of the more than ten million species that share our planet, are at risk of being burned without ever being read. Moreover, it’s not enough to read their genomes; we need living books to bring vitality to our world.

Although there is no simple solution, more detailed understanding of biodiversity is essential to heighten concern and develop strategies to curb the loss of species. Humanity is not hellbent on destruction; our governance systems have shown their capacity to respond to environmental challenges so long as they are well documented and solutions are clear. Yes, action often comes late, but not too late. Our use of chlorofluorocarbons was curbed once their role in depleting stratospheric ozone was evident, and our shift away from carbon-based fuels is being driven by the powerful evidence for their role in global warming. The pattern is clear; society acts once science has spoken.

There is an intimate relationship between technological advances, scientific progress, and societal action. Efforts to halt changes in atmospheric chemistry were motivated by sophisticated sensor networks that documented the global impacts of chlorofluorocarbons and greenhouse gases. By contrast, biodiversity science has been technology poor, a discipline reliant upon case studies to document species in decline, lacking the capacity to map planetary biodiversity. The iBOL Consortium (Figure 1) is striving to change this situation though BIOSCAN, a 7-year, $180 million research program launched in 2019. Propelled by advanced DNA sequencers, computational hardware, and digital imagers, BIOSCAN will allow humanity to understand its impacts on other species.

Before long, a network of passive traps operating like spider webs will capture specimens, read their DNA, and transmit this information to geostationary satellites. Underwater drones will patrol aquatic ecosystems, ingesting dissolved DNA, sequencing it, and rising to the surface to transmit data. By analyzing billions of specimens every year, these sensor networks will enable a global biosurveillance system, one tracking biotic change in near-real time. It’s not often that a field of science is transformed, and rarer yet that this should coincide with a crisis whose solution demands new powers. Yet, these advances in biodiversity science will provision humanity with the knowledge needed to pull life back from the brink – to prevent millions of species from being swept from our world. We are indeed living in extraordinary times.

The magical freedom, artistic joy and aesthetic pleasure that comes with seabirds’ observation are awe-inspiring, and also teach us in ways that can be hard to imagine.
Not surprisingly birdwatching has antique roots. In ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, birds were observed to foretell the future. Specialized professionals called Augurs or Auspices (“the ones that observe the birds”) interpreted their behaviour to deliver auspices—good and bad—for the times to come.

Nowadays, augury became scientific knowledge, informing us about the world and our future within it. Thus, research into the diversity, population dynamics and natural history of seabirds highlights critical issues that transcend political boundaries and affect humanity as a whole: global warming, sea level rise, complete loss of low-lying reef islands, coastal vulnerability to tsunamis, chemical marine pollution, plastic pollution of the oceans, overfishing, and insular habitat destruction. To the health of our oceans and islands, seabirds are like the “canary in the coal mine” or the “rose in the vineyard”: they tell us loud and clear about the state of our shared environment.

Mexican islands, particularly those of the Pacific, are seabird habitats of global importance, harbouring one third (108) of the world’s total number of species (359). Seabirds have been feeding, reproducing, resting, and nesting on these islands for millions of years, making Mexico the country with the second-highest number of endemic seabirds after New Zealand.

Unfortunately, modernity and human presence have taken their toll. The most damaging impact—through predation and habitat destruction—has been by invasive species, introduced to the islands purposely or accidentally by sailors. Ship rats, feral cats, goats, and sheep are particularly striking examples. In just a few years, invaders can cause the total extinction of an endemic species, or extirpate—make locally extinct—a native one. This problem affects, without exception, islands all over the world.

Over the past 20 years, the Mexican nonprofit organization Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas, A.C. (Group of Island Ecology and Conservation) to fully restore the islands and seabird populations of Mexico, has been implementing a comprehensive, long-term restoration and conservation program, teaming up with authorities and local communities.
An indispensable starting process is to remove the main factor that decimates seabirds and alter the habitat. To this end, 61 populations of invasive mammals have so far been eradicated from 39 islands, which in turn has benefitted 250 seabird breeding colonies.

Often, extirpated birds return by themselves to the now safe and clean island. When they do not, seabirds are gently invited to come back where they belong. The return is facilitated by social attraction techniques: deployment of artificial decoy colonies, for visual attraction; automatic broadcasting of songs, for auditive attraction; and by building artificial nests to make the initial recolonization and breeding less arduous to the parents. Of the 27 extirpated seabird’s populations, 85% are now back. To complement and assure enduring results, vegetation communities and soil are also restored. Finally, each project is wrapped up with a biosecurity protocol aimed at preventing the introduction of invasive species.

Successful restoration involves social aspects as much as it does nature. It has been essential to engage and build bridges with local fishermen communities, provide opportunities for environmental learning, and team up with academic institutions and government agencies. Thanks to these efforts, all the Mexican islands are now protected by federal decrees and are benefitted with conservation actions in the field.

Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas continues to research and monitor seabird populations on priority islands located on the country’s diverse marine regions: Pacific Ocean near the peninsula of Baja California, Guadalupe Island, Gulf of California, the remote Revillagigedo Archipelago, and Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

I would like to conclude with a hopeful epilogue harking back to the global links seabirds embody. It is a story that strengthens the idea of “The Islands Sisterhood” across the Pacific Ocean: Some months ago, a young Laysan albatross born in 2018 on El Zapato (“The Shoe”), an islet near Guadalupe Island, Mexico, appeared on the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Thanks to its distinctive orange ring, the bird was identified by scientists of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. It was the first time that happened. Over 9,000 km away from its birthplace, and despite the separation created by COVID-19, the epic flight of this albatross provides grounds for optimism, and unites us—in this case particularly Japan and Mexico—in our shared commitment and common responsibility.

All photos credits: GECI / J.A. Soriano

First of all, law enforcement was strengthening by the support of special mobile anti-poaching brigades to halt direct killing. But even more important was work with all local hunting clubs to convince hunters that shooting of leopard is not a proud of trophy but the crime and ignominy. The large scale communication program covered all 18 schools in leopard’s range. Through the children hearts, we could reach minds of their parents. Annual leopard festival, contests of creative activities, personal leopard for protection by each village under the slogan “Land of the Leopard” has been slowly shifted behaviour of people and authorities.

But I had believed that only creation of a large unified federal-level specially protected territory, with adequate legal authority, organizational capacity, and financial security, could ensure the long-term persistence of recovering leopard population. The scientific backgrounds for such national park were elaborated but they were so many interagency confrontations, the resistance of local business, blockages from army and boundary guards. The only involvement of top leader such as Sergey Ivanov, who was the Head of the Russian President Administration, allowed overcame all contradictions. My many years’ dream – “Land of the Leopard” national park, was established in 2012 on 2620 sq.km. Together with the buffer zone and existing nature reserve “Kedrovay pad”, the protected areas covers 70% of leopard’s habitats in the Russian Far East under the management of united federal directorate.

Now we can say – the Far Eastern leopard has stepped out from the brink of extinction. Since 2001, its population has been tripled, more than 20 kittens are registered per year, the area spread to nearby China and North Korea. Moreover, protection of leopard leads to restoration of the whole ecosystem!

Simultaneously, the isolated Chanbaishan population of Amur tiger has increased from 12-14 to 35-40 animals, the brown bear came back to the forests, the density of wild ungulates reached maximum carrying capacity sufficient to feed large predators and local hunters, musk deer and goral reappeared in the national park. Even the new species for Russia – Korean water deer forms the breeding population here. About 400 species of birds, more than 2000 species of vascular plants, and many many other living creatures are flourishing under the umbrella of the leopard conservation program.

National park as a flexible format of the protected area allows continuing traditional nature use by locals adding value from fast-developing eco-tourism activities. The growing source populations of the Far Eastern leopard and Amur tiger support the restoration of these rare cats in North-East China, which led to the creation of huge national park along the border with Russia. My next dream and work – the launch of the Sino-Russian transboundary nature reserve “The Land of Big Cats”, real future World Heritage!

Dr. Kamal Bawa is President of a world-class think and do tank, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, India and Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA. Dr. Bawa has generated significant win-win solutions that serve as models for conservation across the globe through tackling the compatibility of both the economy and the conservation of biodiversity. Dr. Bawa traverses the North-South divide, making contributions to India, Costa Rica, United States and the world. His pioneering work on the sustainability of non-timber forest product extraction demonstrated that conservation and human well-being could be simultaneously achieved.

Dr. Bawa has made distinguished intellectual contributions to biodiversity science through ground-breaking research on conservation. He discovered new modes of reproduction in tropical forest trees that changed prevailing notions about their ecology and evolution. Also, he developed a new class of genetic markers for tropical forest trees, and showed that forest fragmentation, widespread in the tropics, depletes biodiversity. He developed new paradigms and tools for conservation, explored synergies between conservation and social goals such as poverty reduction, and identified conservation priorities in biodiversity hotspots. He has taught 2000 students and mentored 30 doctoral and postdoctoral scholars.

In 1996 Dr. Bawa founded ATREE in India. ATREE’s work has been unique for its interdisciplinary approaches, and has shaped the policy agenda including work leading to nomination of the Western Ghats as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a ban on mining in a national park, and implementation of the Forest Rights Act. With a core research staff of 80, 27 with doctoral degrees, ATREE is operating a new interdisciplinary doctoral program in biodiversity science in order to build the manpower India badly needs to successfully conserve in the 21st century. ATREE is a model for a research, education and policy institution not just in India or the developing world, but across the world. A University of Pennsylvania group has rated ATREE as the #1 environmental think tank in Asia and 19th in the world (2011 and 2012).

Dr. Bawa has shaped the direction of conservation science, action and policy through serving as President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, as founder and editor-in-chief of an international, interdisciplinary journal, Conservation and Society and as a member of the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration. Furthermore, Dr. Bawa led efforts to establish the India Biodiversity Portal, and has contributed to raising awareness of biodiversity.

The interrelationships between biodiversity and climate change has been explored. In this exploration, it is being established that biodiversity sits at the nexus among the three Rio conventions of UNCCD (Land degradation), UNCBD (Biodiversity) and UNFCCC (Climate change, and that through conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, solutions can be found for land degradation and climate change.

In this discourse, a number of questions are being asked and answers provided. It is believed that the answers will educate people on the basic question of the interrelationships between biodiversity and climate change.

As science informs policy so it is the duty of scientists, including biodiversity and climate scientists, to inform and educate the society about the social, economic and environmental consequences about biodiversity loss and effects of climate change as issues that are inimical to human wellbeing. In so doing they contribute to the promotion of good life. The understanding is that policy and decision makers are made fully aware to engage and develop policies, which may include plans, programmes and projects to reduce the incidences of biodiversity loss and the effects of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems or completely remove the source of the problem.

The responses of the ordinary people to these phenomena are swift but that of governments are slow. The ordinary people get affected quickly because their sustenance is hinged on the benefits they derive from the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Climate change appearance alters everything and their aspirations are lost. By ordinary people it includes those whose livelihoods depend solely on what they can eke out from the immediate environment and support themselves from the genetic resources around them for food, fuel, health and finances. The lives of many of such people become pitiable as they are not able to make ends meet because of crop failure which resulted from drought, emergence of pests and diseases and lack of appropriate labour force from climate effects.

Governments’ responses are slow, except in emergency natural situations such as earthquakes, tsunamis, fire, flooding etc., because of several factors including lack of coordination within the extension services and absence of good surveillance teams in monitoring and evaluation. At the time of government action, a lot of damage may have been done. It is usually at this stage that governments wake up and call for international action. This begins the processes of intergovernmental cooperation.

From 1987 to the present, governments of the world have engaged with one another to find solutions to the world’s developmental issues such as poverty, extreme hunger, child mortality, maternal health, and environmental degradation, which have resulted from biodiversity. ‘Our common Future’ was an outcome in 1989 which also led to the development of the Agenda 21 principles of sustainable development. The UN Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992 culminated in the signing of 3 conventions, which are usually referred to as The Rio conventions of UNCCD, UNCBD and the UNFCCC to promote environmental aspects of agenda 21 in the areas of land degradation, biodiversity and climate change respectively. While each convention had Parties and organized COPs, IPCC was already in place providing timely scientific advice on carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions that had been identified as responsible for global warming. At long last the reasons for climate change effects were understood and governments were advised to cut down on their emissions of these gases. How to cut the carbon and other GHGs emissions has engaged governments and there has been series of negotiations. The most developed country Parties whose industries generate more of these gases have been targeted to reduce their emissions (Kyoto Protocol). The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the “Marrakesh Accords.” Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The Doha accord in 2012 brought New commitments for Annex I Parties to the Kyoto Protocol who agreed to take on commitments in a second commitment period from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020; A revised list of greenhouse gases (GHG) to be reported on by Parties in the second commitment period; and Amendments to several articles of the Kyoto Protocol which specifically referenced issues pertaining to the first commitment period and which needed to be updated for the second commitment period.

For developing country Parties whose carbon stocks in the form of forests are being cut and thus reducing natural carbon sinks, sometimes indiscriminately for other land-uses, have also been requested for  Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) with the appropriate plans and programmes  in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+).

Through government efforts, the issues of climate change and biodiversity loss have been firmly linked. United Nations sponsored intergovernmental meetings of World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) whose plan of actions included the introduction of the Millennium development Goals (MDGs) to commemorate Rio+10, set global agenda to deal with the threat of climate change and biodiversity loss. The recent global assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2012, dubbed Rio+20 rehashed agenda 21 ideals and recapped it as ‘the Future we want’ in which solutions to climate change effects and biodiversity loss could be found, with special attention to an evaluation of the MDGs as a new post 2015 development agenda loomed ahead. In time and towards the end of September 2015, the new 17 goal global agenda was agreed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to operate from January 2016. This is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) whose focus have been hinged on human wellbeing, bringing to mind the need to ensure a balance among human behavior (social), human actions for survival (economy) and human interactions with the environment (which includes the biophysical components, especially biodiversity, that promote ecosystem renewal, resuscitation and resilience for service).

From biodiversity viewpoint, tremendous efforts have been made in terms of an agreed biodiversity strategy of 2011-2020 and the Aichi Targets CBD 2014). The Aichi targets are 20 and each one of them is expected to be achieved by 2020 towards a global vision of halting biodiversity loss by 2050. An assessment of the current extent of biodiversity loss has been lacking. The engagement of governments, supported by civil society organizations, to birth IPBES in 2012 as a biodiversity platform for assessments, utilizing available information and supporting the biodiversity related agreements has been remarkable. IPBES’s 4 key functions are to Facilitate access to the scientific information needs of policymakers, promoting and facilitating the generation of new knowledge where this is necessary; to Deliver global, regional, sub-regional and thematic assessments as requested, and at the same time promote and facilitate assessments at the national level; to Promote the development and use of policy support tools and methodologies so that the results of assessments can be more effectively applied; and to Identify and prioritize capacity building needs for improving the science-policy interface at appropriate levels, and provide, call for and facilitate access to the necessary resources for addressing the highest priority needs directly relating to its activities. (UNEP/IPBES MI/2/9).

Biodiversity is seen in the form of species whose individuals form populations, live in habitats and constitute part of the ecosystem and which taxonomically aggregate into genera and families of plants, animals and other living organisms. The basic component of these individuals is the genetic composition. It is this that makes up the genetic resources which are used for food and agriculture. These play crucial roles in food security, nutrition and livelihoods and in the provision of environmental services. They are the key components of sustainability, resilience and adaptability in production systems. They underpin the ability of crops, livestock, aquatic organisms and forest trees to withstand a range of harsh conditions. Thanks to their genetic diversity, plants, animals and micro-organisms adapt and survive when their environments change (FAO, 2015). Thus Climate change poses new challenges to the management of the world’s genetic resources for food and agriculture, but it also underlines their importance.

There is a nexus that operates among biodiversity, climate change and land and/or water degradation. Because of the components of sustainability, resilience and adaptability in production systems, they underpin the ability of crops, livestock, aquatic organisms and forest trees to withstand a range of harsh conditions. Thus land degradation which results from climate change or from human activities can be rehabilitated through conservation. The concept of adaptation (Bedmar et al 2015) as a means of countering climate change effects on an ecosystem depends largely on the presence of biodiversity. The concept of Climate-smart-agriculture(CSA) basically recalls biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

adaptation planning: an analysis of the National Adaptation Programmes of Action. CCAFS Working Paper no. 95. CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Copenhagen, Denmark. Available online at: www.ccafs.cgiar.org

CBD. 2014. Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 — Summary and Conclusions. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Montréal, 20 pages

FAO. 2015. Coping with climate change – the roles of genetic resources for food and agriculture. Rome

As an advocate for biodiversity policy at the global level, Dr. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah has contributed to the establishment of global mechanisms to raise the profile of biodiversity on the global political scene. He has co-chaired the Executive Committee of the International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMoSEB) and played an active role during the global consultation process towards establishment of a science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services since 2005. Consequently he participated in the founding of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and acted as a member of an initial international planning committee for UNEP towards the first, second and third meetings for IPBES, co-chaired the first two meetings and acted as the vice-chair for the third. He reviewed the work of IPBES at the eighth session of the Open Working Group of the United Nations General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals in New York on 3 February 2014, and presented and defended the idea of having a goal on ‘life supporting systems.’

As the chair of the 9th and 10th Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), he successfully steered the Subsidiary Body and the Convention towards the consideration of specific targets and goals as strategies to achieve a substantial reduction in the loss of global biodiversity by 2010. He chaired many contact groups at SBSTTA and COPs including those on Biofuels, Sustainable Use with the SATOYAMA Initiative, Forests, Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, the Global Taxonomy Initiative, Capacity Building, and Protected Areas. As Vice-Chair for the Standing Committee of Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES), Dr. Oteng-Yeboah chaired a group to draft a strategic vision which was adopted by the Standing Committee at its 54th meeting. As a member of the Scientific Council for the UN Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), he spoke on behalf of Africa and stressed the need for scientific advice to secure the migratory routes. He also served as a member of the International Advisory Committee for UNESCO Biosphere Reserves for a three-year assignment, and provided support for the revision of the establishment of new Biosphere Reserves. As a board member of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), he contributed to the production of the assessment report on the world’s ecosystem resources. His contributions to biodiversity related international mechanisms are enormous. Currently he is supporting the promotion of sustainable use of biodiversity through serving as Chair of the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee and Chair of the Steering Committee of the International Partnership on the SATOYAMA Initiative (IPSI).

Dr. Oteng-Yeboah, who has played a role of interface between science and policy, has been giving strong impacts not only to young Africans but also to people from other parts of the world, and especially to the beginners of international negotiations on biodiversity.

Dr. Bibiana Vilá is Principal Researcher of the National Research Council (CONICET) Argentina and Director of the Vicuñas, Camelids and Environment (VICAM). She has run, a practical and symbolical biodiversity conservation project in the Andean altiplano, northwest Argentina, for more than 30 years. 　She is a highly accomplished and skilled scientist and wildlife conservationist.

Vicuñas are a wild species of enormous ecological, economic, and socio-cultural importance in South America. 　Their fine fleece is highly prized, but on the other hand, they were slaughtered in large numbers for centuries. VICAM headed by Dr. Vilá, in consort with local Andean communities, has been very important in recovering an ancient pre-hispanic wildlife capture technique, the chaku, in order to achieve the conservation and sustainable use of vicuñas. Approaches have been developed which will permit the regular capture and shearing and release of wild vicuñas, thus generating income for otherwise economically deprived indigenous communities. This income will also provide important incentives to conserve the species and the ecosystem. VICAM comprises 12 people – with varied profiles covering biological and social sciences – devoted to different aspects of conservation. Its conservation vision blends science-based environmental management and local indigenous knowledge, promoting ecological sustainability rooted in objective scientific data and a respect of local perceptions and practices. This project is truly a model for modern wildlife conservation, and can serve as inspiration for others working in the field.

Dr. Vilá is an accomplished scientist, who regularly publishes her work in high impact academic journals. Also, she works effectively with remote mountain communities under sometimes extremely harsh environmental conditions of cold, dryness, and high winds. As a principal researcher of the CONICET, Dr. Vilá is studying wild vicuñas, and Andean environmental sustainability. She is also a gifted teacher and mentor, and teaches “Environmental Education for rural areas” as part time professor of the Public National University of Luján. In the Ministry of Science of Argentina, she is the scientific coordinator of the Advisory Commission on Biodiversity and Sustainability. She is the representative of the CONICET in the Committee for the Development of Mountainous Regions of Argentina (Mountain Partnership FAO). She is the vice president of Latinoamerican Society of Ethnobiology (SOLAE). She is the national focal point of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).

Dr. Juan Carlos Castilla (b. 1940) started his career in marine preserves and management areas that play an important role in the sustainable use of natural resources. Dr. Castilla who considered to be “the pioneer of South American marine ecology,” is a professor in the Department of Ecology at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile where he teaches marine and community ecology. He also headed the Coastal Marine Station, “Estacion Costera de Investigaciones Marineas,” in Las Cruces, Chile, which has operated as a research marine preserve for more than 25 years.

In a long-term experiment at the preserve, Dr. Castilla has worked with artisanal fishing communities to test no-take zones, “human exclusion” areas and seasonal closings. He conducted experiments at the small scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) as the experimental facility of the Catolica University. His research results successfully proved that MPA is effective for increasing natural resources and conserving biodiversity in the surrounding sea areas. He proposed the integration of small scale MPA and fishery, and this proposal was disseminated throughout Chile.

Positive results have greatly influenced the new Chilean Fishery and Aquaculture law especially on matters related to the management of benthic resources. These activities and the results identified the role of small sized fishermen toward sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity, realized the institution to conseve artisanal fisheries in Chilien coastal zones, and participated in PISCO (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans), PEW Foundation Marine Conservation and the Mellon Foundation Coastal Ecosystem projects, with Chilean and US scientists as Profs. Jane Lubchenco, Bruce Menge and Steve Gaines. More than 60 papers have now been published on this unique projects.

Part of the success of his activities is Dr. Castilla’s significant theoretical and practical experience in issues related to coastal property rights, management and exploitation areas and co-management. Regarding the integration of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, his achievements in raising awareness about the role of small sized fishers and proposing a new legal system from a biologist are also influential to the world.

Dr. Castilla has been invited by more than 30 universities to offer lectures and seminars, has publsihed over 250 papers and he has been recognized with a number of awards including the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity for his pioneering work on marine parks and reserves, the co-manegmet of coastal resources and conservation of marine biodiversity.