Countdown 2010 and the TEEB for local policy makers review ...ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/greenweek2010/sites/default/files/speeches...Save Biodiversity! COUNTDOWN 2010 AND LOCAL

www.countdown2010.netSave Biodiversity!

Countdown 2010 and the TEEB for local policy makers review process

Elisa Calcaterra Programme Officer - IUCN Regional Office for Pan-Europe

2nd June 2010 Green Week

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE


IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries.

Our vision is a just world that values and conserves nature.

Our mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

www.iucn.org


THE 2010 BIODIVERSITY TARGET

“that biodiversity decline should be halted with the aim of reaching this objective by 2010”

Presidency Conclusions of the EU Summit in Göteborg, 2001

“to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national levels as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on earth”

Decision VI/26 CBD Strategic Plan 2002


Biodiversity Stakeholders Meeting

Irish Presidency of the European Union

Deciding how the European Union will meet the 2010 biodiversity target

THE LAUNCH – 25 May 2004


A powerful network of active partners working together to reach the 2010 biodiversity target

WHAT IS COUNTDOWN 2010?


ACHIEVEMENTS

Partnerships

Local and regional authorities


COUNTDOWN 2010 PARTNERS INCREASE

Countdown 2010 now has over 1000 partners

Academia: 21

Business: 82

Governments and Agencies: 79

Local Government: 370

IGO: 10

NGO: 420

050

100150200250300350400450

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010


ACHIEVEMENTS

Partnership

Local and regional authorities


LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES: THE MISSING LINKNational governments alone can

not achieve the target: biodiversity is first and foremost a local issue

Local and regional authorities are close to both biodiversity and citizens

Local and regional authorities are responsible for an array of decisions which impact biodiversity within and outside their boundaries


COUNTDOWN 2010 AND LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

• In 2005, Countdown 2010 launched a campaign specifically targeted at local and regional authorities.

• The first city to join was Tilburg in the Netherlands.

• Almost 400 have followed.


COUNTDOWN 2010 SUCCESS STORIES

• Species conservation: Province of Limburg, Belgium

• Awareness raising: Ile de France and NatureParif, France, Danish Ministry and Local Authorities

• Ecological corridors: City of Rome, Italy

• National Platforms: Spain, Austria.

About 1/3 of European Butterflies has a declining population (European Red List of Butterflies, 2010)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Melitaea_cinxia.png


TEEB FOR LOCAL POLICY MAKERS: THE STAKEHOLDER REVIEW PROCESS

• Several events during the period October 2009 – April 2010, both in Europe and in other continents

• The events discussed the following points:– The relevance of TEEB and its appropriateness– Specific themes addressed by the TEEB for local policy makers

report (local planning, protected areas, EIA and SEA, etc).– General comments


THE RELEVANCE OF TEEB AND ITS APPROPRIATENESS

“ Economists and politicians have been demanding numbers for

years– but we have not been able to provide them”

(participant, Jerusalem workshop, October 2009)


• Many participants were not familiar with TEEB -> immediate understanding of the TEEB approach - based on an economic perspective of ecosystems services -varied across audiences

• Appreciation of the TEEB work and agreement that it is a timely and worthwhile effort

• Most participants agreed that it is a necessary perspective both for politicians and technical staff

Expectation that TEEB will make a strong case for changing the way nature is being considered in political and economic processes

THE RELEVANCE OF TEEB AND ITS APPROPRIATENESS


SPECIFIC THEMES (continued)

Protected areas: well known and understood, stakeholders clearly identified benefits, including economic benefits as well as potential controversial aspects

EIA and SEA: generally perceived as difficult and cumbersome, it emerged that biodiversity and ecosystem services are rarely taken into account/ are given low priority or not considered at all


SPECIFIC THEMES (continued)

Valuation methods: most participants showed a lot of interest in learning more about available methods and use them, very few had practical experience of doing so

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES): the concept was either unknown or not very well understood or thought to be applicable only in certain circumstances (e.g. rural areas but not urban areas)


GENERAL COMMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS

“Give me the tools and I will use them” (participant,

Hasselt workshop, February 2010)

Guidelines and practical tools were a common

request. Many expressed interest in using and/or testing an ecosystem services approach but

did not necessarily know how to proceed


GENERAL COMMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS

An economic approach alone can not save nature

-> participants often expressed worries linked to the risk of adopting an exclusively economic approach or one that ends up valuing only specific provisioning ecosystems

TEEB needs to make a strong case and be heard outside of the traditional conservation community

-> participants were keen to stress the need for far reaching and persuasive communication efforts


Thank you

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Documents

Countdown 2010 and the TEEB for local policy makers review ...ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/greenweek2010/sites/default/files/speeches...Save Biodiversity! COUNTDOWN 2010 AND LOCAL