European regions and local authorities join forces for biodiversity
16 February 2007, Oisterwijk, the Netherlands. ”Regions and local authorities should step up their efforts to halt the decline of biodiversity”, was the main message of the international Conference ‘European regions as champions for biodiversity 2010 – Europe meets Brabant, Brabant meets Europe’.
The 200 conference participants issued concrete recommendations on ways and means of putting the European biodiversity 2010 commitments into tangible actions at regional and local levels by learning from inspiring examples and views. It was decided to develop a down-to-earth and bottom-up interregional European biodiversity programme, which will facilitate practical cooperation between regions and local authorities across Europe. During the conference various interregional biodiversity 2010 project concepts were elaborated, including on the interaction between landscape identity and biodiversity, climate change and biodiversity, and support to safeguarding biodiversity hot spots in Eastern Europe.
The host of the conference, Noord-Brabant’s Regional Minister for Environment, Nature and Water, Ms. Annemarie Moons, presented the report on climate change and biodiversity and the role of regions, prepared by ECNC. The participants concluded that regions should provide active leadership in combating the negative impact of climate change and in reducing the ecological footprint of regions and local communities.
During a Countdown 2010 signing event, 17 new parties signed the “Countdown 2010 commitment”, thus expressing their willingness to actively contribute to enhancing the quality of biodiversity and halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010. The Countdown 2010 initiative was launched by a partnership of governments and NGO’s to create awareness about the importance of biodiversity and the 2010 target. The Province of Noord-Brabant was the first region in the world to join the Countdown 2010, and many local authorities and other parties in Noord-Brabant and other parts of Europe followed. The conference participants and leaders from European institutions applauded the inspiring example and proactive approach of the Province of Noord-Brabant and hoped that other regions would follow this example. During the conference, various promising best practices from other regions were presented and discussed.
A special feature of the conference was the strong involvement of youth in the preparation and the programme of the conference. Together with other youth organisations in Europe, the Dutch National Youth Council explored the meaning and value of biodiversity in Europe in the mind of people. They travelled by train from Den Bosch (The Netherlands) to Sofia (Bulgaria) and made a video impression about what they encountered and learnt about biodiversity. They presented the results during the conference. During the conference, migrant organisations expressed their willingness to contribute to safeguarding the environment and presented a manifesto.
