Goals and Objectives
Countdown 2010 was launched at the stakeholder conference “Sustaining Livelihoods and Biodiversity: Attaining the 2010 Target in the European Biodiversity Strategy” in Malahide, Ireland in 2004. This conference resulted in the Message of Malahide which today forms the foundation of the European Commission’s Biodiversity Communication.
Since its creation, Countdown 2010 works towards the following goals and objectives:
Goal
All governments and members of civil society, at every level, have taken the necessary actions to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010
Objectives
- Gain maximum public attention for the challenge of saving biodiversity by 2010;
- Encourage and support the full implementation of all the existing binding international commitments and necessary actions to save biodiversity;
- Demonstrate clearly what progress the world makes in meeting the 2010 biodiversity target.
Principles
- Sound science: all Countdown 2010 work is underpinned by sound science and/or relevant practical conservation experience and is carried out to the highest possible standard.
- Transparency: Countdown 2010 is committed to the principle of transparency in process and decision making. It ensures public access to information, while respecting individual privacy and institutional confidentiality, as appropriate.
- Subsidiarity: the Countdown 2010 Secretariat works at the most appropriate level (local, national, regional, multi-regional) and it undertakes only those Countdown 2010 activities that partners are unable to.
- Autonomy: Countdown 2010 is an independent alliance. It is governed by the will of its partners through the institutional mechanisms in place (Advisory Board and Partners’ Assembly).
