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Regional and local action to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target

> 14 February 07

Local Action for Biodiversity

Why local action?

  • Local and regional governments manage and administer large areas of land (in many cases the majority of a country);
  • Local and regional governments play a role in approving land-use changes and consider development applications;
  • Local and regional governments plan and implement development (e.g. infrastructure) as well as set long term city strategic development frameworks;
  • Local and regional governments control land-use within their boundaries.

Cities and regions are crucial allies for communicating and implementing the 2010 biodiversity target. International conventions and institutions, governments, private business and non-governmental organizations have started to take up the challenge by making their biodiversity strategies and programmes 2010-fit, by improving monitoring and evaluation and by implementing existing agreements on the ground. Their efforts might not suffice. Now it is time for cities and regions to join this growing movement to save biodiversity.

Five steps towards 2010

To respond to the central role local and regional authorities have in relation to the 2010 biodiversity target, Countdown 2010 together with IUCN, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, SANBI – The South African National Biodiversity Institute and RomaNatura has launched a call for Local Action on Biodiversity. The initiative recommends the following five-step program for all participating cities and regions.

Step 1: Assess: beginning with the development of a biodiversity report that assesses the current state of the resource and its management within the area. The LAB Project Team will later synthesize these reports and information from other sources into a document that will act as a biodiversity toolkit;

Step 2: Commit: through the high-level signing of a declaration of commitment to biodiversity;

Step 3: Plan: drafting and consultation of a biodiversity action plan and framework including commitments to annual implementation plans as well as integration into broader city initiatives and master plans;

Step 4: Commit: to the abovementioned action plan and framework;

Step 5: Implement: Implementation of five new on-the-ground biodiversity interventions by 2010.

Local governments with a track record of involvement and interest in biodiversity initiatives were invited to participate in the LAB Project. The following cities and regions have committed to participate in the LAB Project:

Barcelona (Spain); Bonn (Germany); Cape Town (South Africa); Durban (South Africa); Edmonton (Canada); Ekurhuleni (South Africa); Ile de France (France); Johannesburg (South Africa); Joondalup (Australia); King County (USA); Leicester (England); Liverpool (Australia); Nagoya (Japan); São Paulo (Brazil); Seoul (South Korea); Tilburg (The Netherlands); Waitakere (New Zealand); Walvis Bay (Namibia); Zagreb (Croatia).

Supporting measures

In addition to actions of individual partners, Countdown 2010 aims to sustain and improve the engagement at regional and local level with the following support mechanisms:

  • Establish and nurture a network of committed local and regional governments around the 2010 biodiversity target (Partnership Network);
  • Raise the profile of biodiversity issues at the regional and local government level by using the 2010 biodiversity target and in particular the Countdown 2010 network and tools strategically (Communication), and;
  • Assess progress and define priority actions towards the achievement of the 2010 biodiversity target (Assessment).