Vietnames ministry begins countdown to save biodiversity
23 May 2007, Ha Noi, Viet Nam. Ministry officials, international donors, non-governmental organisations and environmentalists officially launched the Countdown 2010 Initiative for Viet Nam at a ceremony on International Biodiversity Action Day in the capital yesterday.
Participants signed the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) declaration, which carries the slogan “No Time To Loose for Biodiversity.”
The Countdown 2010 biodiversity target was set by more than a 100 bodies – including national and local governments, NGOs and European business groups at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Signatories to the initiative are expected to encourage decision-makers to take action and to commit themselves to reducing loss of biodiversity, and since its launch in 2002, Countdown 2010 has become a global initiative.
To underscore the country’s commitment to the programme, Viet Nam IUCN is creating a Countdown 2010 Hub in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia – a collaborative plan to save the region’s biodiversity.
Together with EU president Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Vietnamese Ministry for Natural Resources and Environment and the International Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), Montreal, the IUCN is organising a symposium on biodiversity and climate change.
Politicians and decision-makers around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the far-reaching consequences of global warming, say environmental groups. Climate change and resultant sea-level rises are of particular concern to Viet Nam because of its long coastline and low-lying river deltas.
The two-day symposium in Ha Noi provided participants with an opportunity to exchange experiences and expertise about urgent regional environmental issues. The forum set out an action plan and recommendations for decision-makers in Viet Nam and South East Asia to minimise the impact of global warming and loss of biodiversity.
