Biodiversity and Conservation

Sustaining local food systems, agricultural biodiversity and livelihoods

Update: Read the Open Letter of the Peoples of Cusco (PDF) to the FAO Director General, Feb. 10.

On 26 February 2010, Peruvian indigenous organizations, local government bodies and civil society organizations in Cusco, Peru, held a meeting to formulate a strategic response to a FAO ABCD10 starting on 1 March that will push for greater use of genetically modified organisms. A demonstration through the ancient Inca streets followed up this multi-stakeholder gathering. The meeting produced a Declaration which underlines that the FAO agenda does not represent the best approach for tackling agricultural challenges, including those brought by climate change.

Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction: what, why and how?

Date
Wednesday, 28 April, 2010 - Thursday, 29 April, 2010
Location
Zoological Society of London

Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction: what, why and how?

2010 International Year of Biodiversity

The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. It’s a key reminder of how fundamental biodiversity is to the health of planetary systems as well as human prosperity and wellbeing — and a chance for all of us to learn more.

Biodiversity events calendar

Calendar of biodiversity events for 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity. We will be updating and added new events as the year progresses.

Protecting community rights over traditional knowledge

News: Protecting Community Rights over Traditional Knowledge: Key findings, recommendations and case studies, 2005-09 Project Folder: Now available

Protect and survive: customary safeguards, traditional knowledge

In thousands of rural communities from Bolivia to Bangladesh, traditional knowledge makes up the living core of culture. Bound up with local livelihoods and biodiversity, it forms a holistic system precisely tailored to local needs and environmental capacity. Its evolution over time and through shifting conditions ensures traditional practices are robust and adaptable to climate change.

Seed industry and UN agency ignore traditional ways to protect biodiversity and knowledge

Communities worldwide risk losing control over their traditional knowledge and biological resources because a UN agency (the World Intellectual Property Organisation -WIPO) and the global seed industry insist on using Western intellectual property standards for managing access to them.

CBD Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing

Date
Monday, 9 November, 2009 - Sunday, 15 November, 2009

Governments to negotiate an International Regime on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing, Montreal, 9-13 November

 

The impact of climate change on tourism in the Caribbean

Tobago, in the Caribbean relies heavily on tourism as its main form of income. The effects of climate change will cause changes in the ecosystems and natural resources needed to sustain the tourism economy. This project looks at what those changes may be, and how policymakers can plan to minimise the risks.

IIED Interviews: Pavan Sukhdev - green economies of the future

In support of BioDiversity Day, Pavan Sukdhev talks to IIED about the sustainable, green economies of the future.

The Governance of Nature and the Nature of Governance : Policy that works for biodiversity and livelihoods

This report examines the governance of biodiversity - how it is managed and how decisions about it are made - at local, national and international level. It reviews experience with community-based conservation, mainstreaming biodiversity, and the Biodiversity Convention process, and includes case studies from India, Peru and Tanzania.

The IUCN World Conservation Congress

More than 8,000 of the world’s leading decision makers in sustainable development: from governments, NGOs, business, the UN and academia. Together in one place for 10 days: to debate, share, network, learn, commit, vote and decide. The objective: ideas, action and solutions for a diverse and sustainable world.

Barcelona

Poverty and Conservation Learning Group

The goal of the Poverty and Conservation Learning Group (PCLG) is to facilitate learning on conservation-poverty linkages between and within different communities of interest.

Opportunities for farm seed conservation, breeding and production

In recent years, the demand for speciality and conservation seeds has risen - yet at the same time the survival of local varieties and biodiversity have also been threatened by strict European Union rules on the marketing of seeds, the small market niches for such varieties and the marketing priorities of commercial companies.

Policy that works for biodiversity and poverty reduction

Community-based initiatives for biodiversity and poverty reduction, where biodiversity is sustainably managed by communities for nutrition, health, cultural and other needs, receive little official support and recognition. Their wider adoption is often hampered by unsupportive policy environments.

Protected areas

Protected areas are an essential tool for conservation, and are the cornerstone of national and international conservation strategies. Yet the financial and political sustainability of these areas is in doubt.

An accountability charter for conservation NGOs

IIED is working with major international conservation organisations to develop a set of principles addressing human rights concerns, and a mechanism for monitoring compliance with those principles. IIED’s role in this process is to act as a facilitator during the development of the principles and compliance mechanism.

Gatekeeper Series

The Gatekeeper series aims to highlight key topics in sustainable natural resource management. Each paper reviews a selected issue of contemporary importance and draws preliminary conclusions for development that are particularly relevant for policymakers, researchers and planners.