2012•10•05     Hyderabad

Under the slogan “Nature protects if she is protected”, the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD) will be convened in Hyderabad, India, from 8 to 19 October 2012. The CBD, which entered into force in 1993, has 193 UN Member State signatories.

COP11, which will be attended by government leaders, policymakers, and representatives of NGOs, the private sector, academia and environmental groups worldwide, will serve as an opportunity to assess progress made in translating the Aichi Biodiversity Targets into revised National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans, and to consider local, national and global mobilization strategies for realizing the vision of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity.

The United Nations University (UNU) — and the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), in particular — will be closely involved in CDB-COP11, and is organizing a series of official side events (which supplement the official meetings with a view to sharing experiences and increasing opportunities for informal dialogue among CBD-COP11 participants). Official CBD-COP11 side events which UNU-IAS is co-organizing or collaborating on are:

• Mon., 8 Oct., 13:15–14:45 Regional Centers of Expertise (on Education for Sustainable Development) and Biodiversity: Local Solutions Linking Education and Implementation
• Tues., 9 Oct., 18:15–19:45 Biodiversity and Community Health: Operationalizing Linkages Between Conservation and Development on the Ground
• Wed., 10 Oct., 13:15–14:45 Promoting Biological Diversity and Ecosystem Services in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes (organized by the Japan Ministry of the Environment)
• Thurs., 11 Oct., 13:15–14:45 Achievements and Further Development of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative
• Thurs., 11 Oct., 13:15–14:45 Community Wellbeing: A Flexible Approach to Measure Progress from the Ground Up?
• Mon., 15 Oct., 18:15–19:45 Traditional Knowledge and Area-based Management Measures in Marine and Coastal Ecosystems

CBD-COP11 side events that will be organized by other UNU institutes are:

• Fri., 12 Oct., 18:15–19:45 A Policy Brief Launch: “Securing the Future of Mangroves” (by the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health)
• Tues., 16 Oct., 13:15–14:45 Asian Cold Deserts: Unique Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (by the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace)

If you are attending CBD-COP11, we invite you to attend any of these side events. Please see the Upcoming Events listing on the UNU website, or the Calendar of Side Events on the CDB website for more information about, and the venue of, each event.

And please stop by the UNU-IAS kiosk on “Experiences and Best Practices in CEPA (Communication, Education and Public Awareness)” at the CEPA Fair from 8–19 Oct.

In addition, the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), for which UNU-IAS serves as the Secretariat, will hold its Third Global Conference (IPSI-3) back-to-back with CBD-COP11 in Hyderabad. IPSI, launched in October 2010 at the CBD-COP10 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, has grown to include 123 organizations worldwide.

You are invited to attend:

• Sun., 7 Oct., 09:30–16:30 The IPSI-3 public forum on “Contribution to Achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets” (organized by IPSI Secretariat (UNU-IAS), India Ministry of Envir onment and Forests, and Japan Ministry of the Environment)
• Tues., 9 Oct., 19:00–20:00 An “Evening with the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative” Fri., 12 Oct., 10:00–13:00 A “Community Dialogue Space” (organized by IPSI Secretariat (UNU-IAS) and UNDP).