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The Conference of Parties (COP7) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) has as Agenda item 19.12 adopted an important text on biodiversity and climate change which was approved on 21 February 2004.
The following paragraphs relating to peatlands were incorporated into the decision.
The Conference of the Parties
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2. Invites Parties, other Governments, international organizations and other bodies to make use of the report on climate change and biodiversity prepared by the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biological Diversity and Climate Change in order to promote synergies at the national level between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and the Convention on Biological Diversity, when implementing climate-change activities and their relation to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity;
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The content of the mentioned report of the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group with respect to peatlands was published in IMCG Newsletter 2003/4. Main statements of the report include:
- Pristine mires play an important role with respect to global warming as carbon stores.
- Anthropogenic drainage has changed mires and peatlands from a global carbon sink to a global carbon (and other greenhouse gas) source
- Human activities continue to be the most important factors affecting peatlands, both globally and locally, leading to a current annual decrease of the mire resource.
- When peatlands are drained to create more agricultural land N2O emissions are increased and these lands become more prone to fires. In some years greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of these drained peatlands (e.g., in South East Asia) may constitute a substantial portion of the global emissions.
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5. Notes that the Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands at its eighth meeting adopted resolution VIII/3 on climate change and wetlands, which, inter alia, called on relevant countries to take action to minimize the degradation as well as promote the restoration. of those peatlands and other wetland types that are significant carbon stores or have the ability to sequester carbon and supports the request by the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to prepare a technical paper on the relationship between wetlands and climate change;
5 bis. Welcomes the proposed assessment on peatlands biodiversity and climate change being undertaken by Wetlands International and the Global Environment Centre with the support of UNEP-GEF, the Government of Canada, the Netherlands and others and encourages the involvement of parties in this assessment and in preparations for the consideration of its findings by SBSTTA prior to COP 9.
The paragraph welcoming the assessment of peatlands, biodiversity and climate change and proposing a mechanism to formally link this to the CBD process is of great strategic value for mire conservation. It is also directly relevant for the current UNEP-GEF Peat and Climate Change Project of the Global Environmental Centre and Wetlands International that is supported by IMCG.
6. Notes also that there are opportunities to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in ways that are mutually beneficial and synergistic, and that contribute simultaneously to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and other international agreements, all within broader national development objectives;
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Especially peatlands provide ample opportunities to interconnect the mentioned conventions.
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11. Encourages Parties to take measures to manage ecosystems so as to maintain their resilience to extreme climate events and to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Paragraph 11 calling on Parties to take measures to manage ecosystems so as to maintain their resilience to extreme climate events and to help mitigate and adapt to climate change is very important as it calls on countries to take specific actions to manage ecosystems rather than just undertake further studies.
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The full text of the decision can be found under http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meetings/cop/cop-07/ official/cop-07-l-16-en.pdf