Spaans voorzitterschap neemt leiding in aandacht voor biodiversiteit (en)

The Spanish Minister of the Environment made these statements during the opening of the two-day European conference entitled “Post-2010 goal and vision for biodiversity. The role of protected areas and ecological networks in Europe”, which is being held in Madrid until 27 January.

The International Year of Biodiversity was launched with the opening of this conference. International negotiations will be held during this year which will culminate in New York in September with a high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly attended by Heads of State and Government.

Moreover, October will see the tenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nagoya (Japan).

The Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia, also took part in the conference's opening event alongside Ms Espinosa. Both stressed the need to stop the loss of biodiversity on the planet.

Spain is the Member State with the highest level of biodiversity in the European Union. It is the top-ranked country for species of birds, mammals and reptiles, and third in amphibians and fish, according to Garmendia.

For her part, Espinosa highlighted that the aim of preserving biodiversity on the planet “involves all of us everyday”.

“Each and every one of the citizens of the world is involved in the fight against biodiversity loss”, and this, she added, will be “one of the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the EU”.

The establishment of a global target on biodiversity for the post-2010 period, reviewing the strategic plan of the Convention of Biological Biodiversity, and the conclusion of the international negotiations on access to genetic resources and the distribution of any profits that may arise from their use will be discussed.

International instruments and platforms are needed to promote interaction between science and biodiversity policy in order to achieve these aims, with greater knowledge of the economic implications that losing biodiversity would entail.

“These core points define the actions of the Spanish Presidency, and we are going to stick to them in order to achieve our goal of preserving a wealth that we cannot deny to future generations”, Espinosa stressed.

For her part, the Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia, insisted that “protecting other species is the only way to protect ourselves. Let us be selfish and let's preserve our natural heritage”.

According to Garmendia, “our future social and economic development” rests largely on biodiversity. Promoting this global debate is the main aim of the International Year of Biodiversity, she added

In her opinion, the conservation of species and being able to hand them down to future generations is "in our hands" “Scientific thought has a lot to contribute" to this commitment to a habitable planet for our descendants.

In the area of biodiversity-related science, the publication of Spanish research accounts for more than 4% of the scientific production worldwide.

Senior level representatives of 45 European states, UNEP i, UNESCO i, OECD i, the European Commission, representatives from international conventions, autonomous regions, NGOs and other experts are all participating in these conferences.