Rome becomes Capital of Biodiversity
18 February 2008, Rome, Italy. Governments alone will not achieve the 2010 biodiversity target. Today, Rome has put its weight behind the 2010 biodiversity target by signing the Countdown 2010 declaration during the opening ceremony of a meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD SBSTTA 13).
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Italian Minister of Environment, Land and Sea along with Aldo Cosentino, Countdown 2010 Ambassador and Director General for Nature Protection welcomed Dario Esposito, Councilor for Environmental and Agricultural Policy of the Municipality of Rome in making this bold step and thereby supporting the Italian Ministry in their endeavors towards 2010. Sebastian Winkler, Head of Countdown 2010, said that the 2010 commitments of Rome are smart as they tackle both the problem of climate change and biodiversity decline.
The planting of 500.000 additional trees will allow the establishment of ecological corridors between the many green parks of Rome. In addition, Rome will launch an initiative to construct sustainable buildings. These buildings will lower the environmental impacts along with high energy and water saving potentials. They will also serve as educational and awareness raising centers.
In his intervention, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the CBD invited Rome to join the growing network of cities and biodiversity that will come together during the CBD Conference of the Parties on 24-26 May 2008 in Bonn to address Environment Ministers on the importance of local action for achieving the 2010 biodiversity target. Federico Cinquepalmi, Italian Member of the Countdown 2010 Advisory Board, commented that the battle on biodiversity will be won or lost in cities, especially as since 2007 the majority of the world population lives in urban areas.
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Italian Minister of Environment, Land and Sea called on government representatives that new and additional funding will be critical in coming closer to the 2010 biodiversity target. “We must start investing in biodiversity before the crisis hits us”. In light of this he presented the first results of the Italian AirOne Initiative which in the last five months has raised substantial funds in contributing 20 cents for each electronic ticket issued by the company. The fund will be used to support forest conservation and restoration projects which will have a dual benefit of reducing carbon emissions and increasing biodiversity.
