Background

In September 1989, the World Resources Institute (WRI), World Conservation Union (IUCN), and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), spearheaded an unprecedented three-year initiative to develop a program to prevent destruction of the world's biodiversity. An International Coordinating Group was established and partner organizations around the world were brought in as collaborators.

More than 500 scientists, community leaders, and representatives of governments, NGOs, development assistance agencies, and industry met in a series of workshops and consultations in Colombia, Thailand, Australia, Kenya, Costa Rica, Brazil, Colorado, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia.

The outcome was the publication of the Global Biodiversity Strategy: Guidelines for Action to Save, Study, and Use Earth's Biotic Wealth Sustainably and Equitably.

The Strategy includes 85 specific proposals for action to conserve biodiversity at the national, international, and local levels. It is intended to stimulate fundamental changes in how individuals, nations, and organizations perceive, manage, and use the earth's biological wealth.

The Strategy (released in February 1992 at the IV World Parks Congress in Caracas, Venezuela), appeared when many of the world's governments were negotiating the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Strategy is a complementary initiative, providing a framework for actions that should be taken by governments and non-governmental organizations in support of the Convention.

Summary

The Global Biodiversity Strategy calls for:

• Catalyzing action through international cooperation and national planning.
• Establishing a national policy framework for biodiversity conservation:
  • Reform existing public policies that invite the waste or misuse of biodiversity.
  • Adopt new public policies and accounting methods that promote conservation and equitable use of biodiversity.
  • Reduce demand for biological resources.

• Creating an international policy environment that supports national biodiversity conservation:
  • Integrate biodiversity conservation into international economic policy.
  • Strengthen the international legal framework for conservation to complement the Convention on Biological Diversity.
  • Make the development assistance process a force for biodiversity conservation.
  • Increase funding for biodiversity conservation, and develop innovative, decentralized, and accountable ways to raise funds and spend them effectively.
• Creating conditions and incentives for local biodiversity conservation:
  • Correct imbalances in the control of land and resources that cause biodiversity loss, and develop new resource management partnerships between government and local communities.
  • Expand and encourage the sustainable use of products and services from the wild for local benefits.
  • Ensure that those who possess local knowledge of genetic resources benefit appropriately when it is used.
  • Managing biodiversity throughout the human environment:
  • Create the institutional conditions for bioregional conservation and development.
  • Support biodiversity conservation initiatives in the private sector.
  • Incorporate biodiversity conservation into the management of biological resources.
  • Strengthening protected areas:
    • Identify national and international priorities for strengthening protected areas and enhancing their role in biodiversity conservation.
    • Ensure the sustainability of protected areas and their contribution to biodiversity conservation.
  • Conserving species, populations, and genetic diversity:
    • Strengthen capacity to conserve species, populations, and genetic diversity in natural habitats (in-situ).
    • Strengthen the capacity of off-site conservation facilities (ex-situ) to conserve biodiversity, educate the public, and contribute to sustainable development.

  • Expanding human capacity to conserve biodiversity:
    • Increase appreciation and awareness of biodiversity's values and importance.
    • Help institutions disseminate the information needed to conserve biodiversity and mobilize its benefits.
    • Promote basic and applied research on biodiversity conservation.
    • Develop human capacity for biodiversity conservation.