Global Biodiversity Protection, a Countdown 2010 partner, recorded the event. Click below to see the video.

A big thank you to Global Biodiversity Protection!

“The greatest achievement of the Countdown 2010 initiative has been to bring together actors which were not traditionally linked to conservation” said John Kidd, IUCN Head of Global Communications “Businesses, local authorities and others have taken direct action to help protect their species, green areas and landscapes. With this new initiative, IUCN wants more and more actors to become aware and engaged in nature conservation”.

Started as a European initiative, Countdown 2010 has gathered mostly partners from Europe. The new initiative will build strong networks in other continents too, also through the support of the wide system of IUCN present in more than 160 countries worldwide.

“With its network of nearly 1,100 partners, the Countdown 2010 initiative has played a crucial role in mobilizing biodiversity action on the ground. IUCN will help scale up these efforts on a global level” said Kidd.

Some 50 representatives of partner organizations, companies, donors and supporters, as well as former staff, attended the event hosted by the IUCN European Union Representative Office yesterday.

• See pictures
• Video

IMA Europe – the European Industrial Minerals Association – presented Countdown 2010 with a special prize at its annual Recognition Awards event held in Brussels on 9th November.

“IMA Europe members much appreciated the very positive and constructive approach of Countdown 2010 which was still quite unique in considering businesses as potential conservation partners. The commitments made in the Countdown 2010 Declaration resulted in concrete action and enthusiasm among IMA members and in the Secretariat” stated Dr Michelle Wyart, Secretary General of IMA-Europe.

“IUCN very much appreciates this acknowledgement. We are very glad that our efforts have created enthusiasm and recognition among our partners” stated Dr Hans Friederich, IUCN Regional Director for Pan-Europe, who received the prize.

A special recognition was also given to Sebastian Winkler, former head of the initiative, for his leadership and support to IMA Europe.

IMA Europe established the Recognition Awards in 2006 to acknowledge external bodies for their exceptional contribution to the minerals industry. The 2010 IMA Award was attributed to the Regione Lombardia.

• Photos

Dear Countdown 2010 partners and friends,

As you know, the Countdown 2010 initiative was officially closed on 20 October at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and a new initiative starting in 2011 was announced.

I would like to thank all of you personally and on behalf of the Countdown 2010 Secretariat for your commitment and support to the initiative.

Your thousands of actions on the ground are a great achievement. I applaud Coralina for their efforts in protecting biodiversity in their archipelago for which they were presented the Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Award for the year 2010. Read the article by the BBC.

I encourage you to keep up your efforts to save biodiversity in your area and hope to welcome you all to the new initiative in 2011.

For those who could not join us in Nagoya have a look at the celebrations here. A video and photos of the event will soon be available.

Thank you all and see you in 2011!

Hans Friederich
IUCN Regional Director for Pan-Europe

19:30-19:35
Opening by Hans Friederich, IUCN Regional Director for Pan-Europe
Message by Sebastian Winkler, former Head of Countdown 2010

19:35-20:10
Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary
Shoichi Kondo, Japanese Vice Minister for the Environment
Karl Falkenberg, Director-General Environment, European Commission
Anne Franklin, CBD Focal point, Belgian Presidency to the European Union
Masahito Yoshida, Chair of IUCN Japanese Committee
Ignace Schops, Countdown 2010 Ambassador and Goldman Prize winner
Video “Sign to the world from Europe”

20:10-20:15
Countdown 2010 Closing Ceremony
Video to celebrate Countdown 2010 partners’ achievements
Bill Jackson, IUCN Deputy Director General

20:15-20:25
Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Award
Presented by famous Japanese singer and IUCN Ambassador Iruka

20:25
Cocktail reception

Video and photos of the event will soon be available.

IUCN’s Countdown 2010 initiative officially closes today in Nagoya by revealing the best efforts of more than 1,000 organizations around the world to save biodiversity. The ceremony is being held on 20 October 2010 at 8.10 pm at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity being held in Nagoya, Japan.

“Countdown 2010 has brought together more than 1,000 very diverse organizations to help conserve biodiversity,” says Dr Bill Jackson, IUCN Deputy Director-General. “Countdown 2010 partners have shown, on the ground, how we can really stop biodiversity loss. These are the type of actions that need to be scaled up for us to make real progress globally by 2020.”

Over the past six years, more than 1,000 organizations – from cities and companies, to museums and community groups – have committed to help save biodiversity through Countdown 2010. Made in Countdown 2010, released today, highlights 20 of the best success stories, showing how Countdown 2010 partners have really made a difference for biodiversity.

Colombian agency Coralina takes top place for their efforts and will receive the Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Award at 20:10 today, in a special ceremony in Nagoya. Coralina, the Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Old Providence and Santa Catalina, a department of Colombia in the Caribbean, wins for its efforts in establishing the Seaflower Marine Protected Area.

“It is an honour for us to receive this award today,” says Ms Elizabeth Taylor Jay, Coralina’s General Director. “We are very grateful to Countdown 2010 for helping promote our efforts. Coralina will continue its action after 2010 to protect and enrich the biodiversity of the archipelago.”

In just a few years Coralina has achieved remarkable results. Nominated to become a World Heritage site, its Seaflower Marine Park now covers more than 200,000 hectares of corals, mangroves and sea-grasses, helping protect 407 fish species, 102 corals, 130 sponges and many more species. Among this impressive list are 192 coastal-marine species listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™.

“Coralina’s work to meet their biodiversity commitment is outstanding,” adds Jackson. “Their actions, as for many other Countdown 2010 partners, will inspire future commitments to protect and invest in biodiversity.”

The Countdown 2010 initiative closes this year in Nagoya as the world’s governments discuss biodiversity targets and plans beyond 2010. IUCN plans to launch a new Countdown initiative early next year to continue fostering local biodiversity commitment and action, and to help scale these up globally.

Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, states that “Countdown 2010 has made a significant contribution to putting biodiversity at the top of humankind’s priorities and we are delighted to count on this unique network to achieve the Aichi Nagoya 2020 target”.

Action

Before At the end of the 90’s, even though considerable efforts were already being made in Italy to fight biodiversity decline, including with the creation of public and private protected areas, the crisis persisted and was getting worse. A constant process of transformation in the use of land, pollution, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, and diffusion of alien species was underway. It was necessary to adopt a new approach to conservation and to develop more synergic intervention strategies, focused on definite and priority targets. WWF Italy started then to look with growing interest at conservations plans based on wider spatial and temporal scales than in the past. But this new strategy called for a multi-level synergy never experienced before, since intervention planning at national and supranational level had to result in action at local level.

Now Biodiversity visions for the Alpine arch (Alps Eco-region) and for peninsular Italy (Central Mediterranean Eco-region) have set the basis for a more general process of decision sharing on the subject of nature conservation where a considerable number of partners are involved. This has also led to the finalisation of a memorandum of understanding between WWF Italy and the Italian Ministry of Environment for effective cooperation in the urgent definition of a National Strategy for Biodiversity in 2010. The eco-regional approach, which works through action plans at different levels, allowed in 2008 to bring together the central government and the Tuscany Region. These two have set up – with the technical and organisational support of WWF Italy – a pilot project for the definition of a “Regional Plan for Biodiversity” according to the draft National Strategy.

• WWF Italy
• www.wwf.it

A specimen of Brown bear of the Appennine population (Ursus arctos marsicanus) © WWF

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Action

Before Conservation International, a large conservation organisation based in the USA, has identified the California Floristic Province as a global biodiversity hotspot where endemic species are heavily threatened. Such biodiversity required reinforced conservation action in the Natural Reserve System of the University of California.

Now NRS reserves have provided protected habitats for the California Condor, American Peregrine Falcon, Stephens’ Kangaroo Rat, Desert Tortoise, and other endangered endemic species. Scientists working at NRS reserves have identified new insect species, rediscovered a species (the Wolverine) formerly believed to be extinct within that range, and reintroduced endangered Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs to their former habitat. The educational programmes of “Exploring California Biodiversity” and “Adventure, Risk, Challenge” have introduced hundreds of youngsters to biodiversity issues. The University faculty has focused on biodiversity in courses for thousands of undergraduates. The NRS publications are reaching people across the nation with their biodiversity stories.

• University of California Natural Reserve System
• http://nrs.ucop.edu/
• The NRS Transect, newsletter of University of California NRS, vol. 28 (1) , Summer 2010 (pdf)

Photo: Scientists from several U.S. government agencies reintroduce eggs of the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog at the University of California NRS’s James Reserve in southern California © Becca Fenwick

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Action

The network’s main goal has been the funding of biodiversity projects in coordination with the Spanish Ministry of the Environment. 19 local projects for the increase of biodiversity are being carried out in 2010 and 28 are scheduled for 2011. In addition, the network promotes citizen participation through actions such as schoolchildren contests, a Voluntary Groups Programme and public communication activities. The aim of the activities is to encourage the engagement of citizens through their local administrators and raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation. The “Local Strategy and Indicator System for Conservation and Augmentation of Biodiversity” and “The Best Practices Catalogue” have been developed to share knowledge across the network and ensure coordination.

Before Environmental policies across Spain were not coordinated. The few Spanish municipalities and provinces that acted for the protection and recovery of natural areas were not linked to each other.

Now “The Local Government + Biodiversity 2010 Network” currently involves more than 220 municipalities representing more than 21 million people in Spain. Together, these municipalities have developed actions with a great impact on the population, and above all, have reached a turning point in local policies for biodiversity. The Spanish network is not only a unique network of local authorities in Europe committed to biodiversity conservation, but also an excellent example of coordination of environmental policies across one country.

• FEMP
• www.femp.es
• www.redbiodiversidad.es
• The Best Practices Catalogue of the network (pdf, in Spanish)

Photo: Biodiversity in the Municipality of Caso, Spain © FEMP

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