G8 to increase efforts to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target
7 June 2007, Heiligendamm, Germany. The leaders of the Group of Eight agreed to “increase our efforts for the protection and sustainable use of biological diversity to achieve our agreed goal of significantly reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010”.
In their summit declaration, “Growth and Responsibility in the World Economy”, issued on 7 June 2007 at Heiligendamm, Germany, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, included a commitment on biodiversity – a first for a G-8 Summit.
The text states:
“We emphasise the crucial importance of the conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity as an indispensable basis for the provision of vital ecosystem services and the long term provision of natural resources for the global economy. We acknowledge the ”Potsdam Initiative – Biological Diversity 2010” presented at the G8 Environmental Ministerial meeting in March 2007 and will increase our efforts for the protection and sustainable use of biological diversity to achieve our agreed goal of significantly reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010.”
The declaration, which also includes important commitments on addressing climate change, acknowledges the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems and highlights the potential role of reducing deforestation as a significant and cost-effective contribution towards mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and toward conserving biological diversity.
- G8 Summit Declaration “Growth and Responsibility in the World Economy”
