Background and Aim

The global economic crisis shocked the world earlier this year. Many governments have responded with enormous, unprecedented economic stimulus and support programs to avoid increasing unemployment and poverty. It is well known today that poverty impacts on the environment and increasing ecosystem degradation aggravates poverty. The loss of biodiversity is a central element in this vicious circle.

On the basis of recent discussions and experiences on linking biodiversity and ecosystem services with development and poverty reduction, the workshop primarily aimed to develop inputs for the Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The plan, which will be negotiated at the 10^th Conference of the Parties in October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, will influence environmental policies of 191 member states for the period 2011 to 2022. Among other issues, the plan will specify the importance of biodiversity for poverty reduction and the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals.

More specifically, the workshop focused on three principle elements for the integration of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services into sustainable development and poverty reduction strategies and, vices versa, poverty reduction considerations into biodiversity policy and action plans.
These elements are: (1) a conceptual framework, (2) targets and indicators and (3) policy instruments (e.g. PES and TEEB).
Outputs of the workshop included recommendations for the new Strategic Plan of the CBD and a road map for further engagement into the process of policy implementation.

In 2010 the world will celebrate the UN International Year of Biodiversity and the theme of next year’s International Day on Biodiversity is "biodiversity for development and poverty alleviation". In the run-up to these events, the workshop provided a forum to discuss key issues and to develop inputs for a new agenda related to biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction. Through case studies we aimed not to loose track and to incorporate practical experience. Ample space for discussions and working groups was given.