The conference “Biodiversity in European Development Cooperation, supporting the sustainable development of partner countries,” (the BEDC Conference) will convene in Paris, France from 19-21 September 2006. The BEDC Conference aims to contribute to transforming political commitments into concrete actions by developing recommendations for the European Commission (EC) and European Union (EU) Member States on how to pro-actively address the integration of biodiversity concerns into development cooperation programmes and policies. The specific objectives of the Conference are to: help developing countries, and the EU Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), integrate protection of biodiversity into their development strategies; and help EU Member States and the EC integrate biodiversity into their development cooperation strategies and programmes, and put in place a monitoring and reporting mechanism to monitor progress in the pursuit of the 2010 and 2015 targets.

The BEDC Conference is organized in plenary sessions and workshops on eight themes: ecosystem services contributions to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); ecosystem services in national development and poverty reduction strategies; challenges for present aid modalities; communication and education; innovative financial mechanisms; trade and economic cooperation; governance and stakeholder engagement; and OCTs.

Conference participants are expected to draft and endorse a Message including recommendations for the EC and the EU Member States.