5. The main international conventions
5.1. The Convention to Combat Desertification
5.2. Conventions on biological diversity
a) United Nations Convention on Bioloigical Diversity
b) The Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats
c) The Ramsar Convention and MedWet
d) The IUCN and the Mediterranean Office
5.3. The United Nations International Framework Convention on Climatic Change
5.1. The Convention to Combat Desertification
Creation: In June, 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), recommended the creation of an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to draw up this convention. The Committee started work in 1993 and on June 17, 1994, the convention was approved in Paris, was made available for signing on October 14 and 15, 1994, and came into effect on December 26, 1997. The Convention's Secretariat is in Bonn (Germany).
Members: States and regional economic integration organizations.
Aims: To combat desertification and to mitigate the effects of drought in the affected countries, especially in Africa, by means of measures based on international cooperation and association, with an approach integrated within Programme 21, to contribute to the sustainable development of the affected areas. The long-term integrated policies will focus on increasing land productivity, rehabilitation and conservation, and the sustainable usage of soils and water resources, all seeking to improve community living standards.
Most important commitments:
a) By the African Parties:
- To accept that combatting desertification and/or mitigating the effects of drought should be the central strategy of their efforts to eradicate poverty.
- To foster regional cooperation and integration in programmes and activities to combat desertification and/or to mitigate the effects of drought.
- To rationalize and strengthen existing institutions; to promote the exchange of information on appropriate technologies; and to prepare contingency plans to mitigate the effects of drought.
b) By the developed country Parties. The developed countries will give priority to the African country Parties by providing them with financial resources, or of other kinds, or by easing their access to financial resources, and by promoting, financing or helping to finance, the transference and adaptation of appropriate environmental technology and know-how and access to them.
Programmes: National, sub-regional and regional action plans for the integrated local development of the affected areas, based on mechanisms of participation and on the integration of the eradication of poverty within the fight against desertification and to mitigate the effects of drought, by strengthening the capacities of local authorities and by ensuring the active participation of the local population, by insisting on: education, mobilization of NGOs and the consolidation of decentralized governmental structures.
Financial resources: Mainly proceeding from the affected countries. Official bilateral development aid (and NGOs) is the most important source for Africa, while for Latin America and Asia the most important source is commercial multilateral bank loans and private sector foreign investment, both of them almost non-existent in Africa. The World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD ?), regional development banks, other international financial institution and the bodies of the United Nations also play a prominent role.
Proposals of the NGOs:
See point 8.3. MED Forum is accredited by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Negotiation of the Convention to participate in the meetings of the Contracting Parties.
5.2 Conventions on biological diversity
a) United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity
Creation: The result of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio, 1992), it came into effect on December 19, 1993. By December 1996, it had been ratified by more than 160 countries, 13 of them in the Mediterranean. The Convention's Secretariat is in Montreal (Canada).
Members: States and regional economic integration organizations
Aims: "The conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources, by means of adequate access to these resources and an appropriate transferral of the relevant technology, taking into account all the rights to these resources and to these technologies, as well as by means of appropriate financing".
Commitments and measures foreseen: Each Contracting Party will draw up strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of its biological diversity or adapt its existing strategies. These include: identification and monitoring, in situ and ex situ conservation, the sustainable use of resources, the development and application of economic and social incentives, research and capacity building, education and raising awareness, access to genetic resources, the knowledge of local and indigenous communities, scientific and technical cooperation, the exchange of information and the transfer of financial resources and technologies (including biotechnology) to the developing countries.
Programmes: Activities dealing with marine and coastal ecosystems (Djakarta Mandate), forests, agricultural ecosystems, and freshwater aquatic ecosystems.
Financial resources: National and international funds, including a sum of 900 million dollars from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for developing countries that are Parties to the Convention.
Proposals of the NGOs:
See point 8.4. MED Forum has been accredited to participate as an observer in the Meetings of the Contracting Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
b) The Bern Convention: Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats
Creation: Bern, September 19, 1979, during the Third Ministerial Conference on the Environment, and in force since 1982. In 1960, the Council of Europe created the European Committee for the Conservation of Nature, and carried out a series of preparatory studies for the Convention, which was the first to include all the aspects of nature conservation. The Council of Europe is fostering a series of important European networks to achieve this; the European biogenetic reserve network, the network of areas with diplomas, the Pan-European ecological network, etc. Its General Secretariat is in Strasbourg.
Members: European and African States, and the European Union. To extend this convention to all these countries is the only way to protect migratory species.
Aims: To ensure the conservation of wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats, especially the habitats of endangered and threatened species (including migratory species) and those species whose conservation requires the cooperation of more than one State, and promoting this cooperation.
The commitments and measures foreseen by the Contracting Parties: to conserve threatened natural habitats and the habitats of the wild flora and fauna. To conserve the threatened species and endangered species listed in the Convention. It includes the promotion of national policies for conservation: the consideration of flora and fauna in development policies and in measures against contamination; promoting education on, and raising awareness of, the need for conservation.
Programmes. Several measures guarantee the implementation of the convention: reports presented by the Contracting Parties on their conservation policies, the creation of expert groups, the setting up of inquiries into controversial cases (often promoted by NGOs), recommendations made by the Permanent Committee, visits by independent experts, etc.
Participation of NGOs: NGOs that are technically qualified in the protection, conservation or management of the wild fauna and flora and their habitats may be observers at the meetings of the Permanent Committee of the Convention, where only those States that have ratified the convention, and the European Union, have the right to vote.
Proposals of the NGOs:
The NGOs play a crucial role by acting as protectors, reporting breaches of the convention, proposing measures, suggesting subjects for research, and making their experience available to the Committee. MED Forum forms part of the Permanent Committee of the Convention.
c) The Ramsar Convention and MedWet
Creation: The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as waterfowl habitat, the Ramsar Convention, was signed in Ramsar (Iran) in 1971, and came into force in 1975, and incorporated technical amendments in 1982 (Paris Protocol), which came into force in 1986, and was further amended in 1987 (Regina Conference, Canada), and these amendments came into force in 1994. There are 110 Contracting Parties. The Secretariat of the Office of the Convention is in Gland (Switzerland).
Members: Every member State of the UNO, any of its organisms, the International Atomic Energy Authority, or the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
Aims: To ensure the rational use and conservation of wetlands due to their abundant and rich flora and fauna, and their functions and values of economic importance. It is the only one of the five global intergovernmental treaties on the conservation and rational use of natural resources (CITES, World Heritage, Migratory Species and Biological Diversity) that deals with a specific type of ecosystem, wetlands. There are now 920 sites or spaces, covering a total of 68 million hectares, that have been included on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.
Commitments and foreseen measures: the States commit themselves to:
- Designate at least one wetland of international importance for inclusion on the list.
- To formulate and apply actions to ensure the rational use of wetland, whether or not they are included on the List.
- To consult with the other members on transfrontier wetlands, and shared hydrological systems and species, and on development projects.
- To establish wetland reserves and to ensure their good custody.
Financial resources: contributions by the member States in accordance with their contribution to the UNO. In 1990, the Ramsar Small Projects Fund for the conservation and rational use of wetlands (SPF) was established to fund projects that implement the objectives of the Ramsar Strategic Plan for 1997-2002.
Programmes:
a) The MedWet Initiative, or Mediterranean Wetland Initiative. In 1991, in Grado (Italy), 28 countries promoted a programme for the Mediterranean wetlands, and in 1993 this was put into operation by the Office of the Ramsar Convention (with 17 Contracting Parties in the Mediterranean region), the European Commission, the governments of Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal, Wetlands International, WWF and the Tour du Valat Biological Station. After the International Conference on Mediterranean Wetlands in June 1996, MedWet was provided with a structure and organization of its own. The Mediterranean Wetlands Committee (MedCom) was also established in 1996, in order to coordinate actions in the Mediterranean. The seat of the MedWet Secretariat for the years 1997-98 is in Thessalonika (Greece).
b) The 1997-2002 Strategic Plan: This was approved in Australia in 1996, and establishes that "the Mission of the Convention is the conservation and rational use of wetlands through national action and international cooperation, as a means to ensure sustainable development throughout the world".
Proposals of the NGOs:
Through its Office, the Ramsar Convention maintains working links with international organizations, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs to form a strategic alliance for the conservation of wetlands. MED Forum has applied to form part of the Permanent Committee of the Ramsar Convention and the Mediterranean Wetlands Commission.
d) The IUCN and the Mediterranean Office
Creation: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was founded in 1948, and brings together governments and non-governmental organizations, providing a neutral forum where they can exchange opinions and plant joint actions.
Aim: The IUCN's mission is to influence, motivate and help societies all over the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature, and also to ensure that all use of natural resources is performed in a fair and ecologically sustainable way. It carries out its activities by means of a growing network of regional and national offices, especially in developing countries.
Mediterranean Office: In accordance with the resolutions the General Assembly in Buenos Aires in 1994, and those of the World Conservation Congress in Montreal in 1996, the IUCN is in the process of setting up a programme for the Mediterranean eco-region, and an Office for the IUCN's Mediterranean Programme. This programme will cover all the gaps, without overlapping or replacing any of the IUCN's other programmes for Europe and Northern Africa/Western Asia. The aim is to promote, develop and influence policies and actions seeking to conserve the biological diversity and the sustainable use of biological resources in the Mediterranean eco-region, and to ensure the application of the Barcelona Convention and the Mediterranean Action Plan, and all the other international conventions affecting the Mediterranean Basin. In 1997, it was agreed to locate the Mediterranean Office in Málaga (Spain). MED Forum, through several of its NGO members, has been very active in the constitution of the Office, and it will put all its organization at the service of the Mediterranean IUCN.
5.3. United Nations International Framework Convention on Climatic Change
Creation: Created in New York on May 9, 1992, and opened for signing at the 1992 Rio Summit. 154 States have now signed the Convention, which came into force on March 21, 1994. The Convention Office's Secretariat is sited in Bonn (Germany).
Members: States and regional economic integration organizations.
Aims: To ensure the stabilization of the concentrations of gases causing the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere at a level that prevents dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climatic system. This level should be achieved within a period of time sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, in order to ensure that food production is not endangered and to allow economic development to proceed in a way that is economically sustainable.
Commitments and measures foreseen: The Parties must draw up and update national inventories of anthropogenic emissions, and of the absorption of gases causing the greenhouse effect that are not controlled by the Montreal Convention; to formulate and apply national programmes to mitigate climate change; to promote and foster through cooperation the development of technologies, practices and processes, systematic research and observation, information exchange and education, and training and the raising of public awareness; to promote sustainable management and to cooperate in the preparations for adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
Financial resources: The financial resource mechanism is based on grants or on favourable conditions for, among other things, technology transfer. The developed States that are Parties can supply developing country Parties with other financial resources through bilateral, regional or multilateral channels.
The Kyoto Protocol: These policies and measure aim for a significant reduction of the six main greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6) in the industrialized countries in the period 2008-2012. It will come into force when it has been ratified by at least 55 of the Convention's 170 member States, and is open for signing for a period of one year, a period that started on March 16, 1998.
Proposals of the NGOs:
The NGOs have played a crucial role in ensuring the subject of climate change was placed on the global agenda. At the Third Conference of Contracting Parties, NGOs were only able to participate as observers but they organized a series of parallel conferences, meetings and activities. A total of 3,663 people were present as representatives of 236 NGOs. The Climate Action Network brings together 160 NGOs that share the aim of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.