Countdown 2010 is spreading beyond Europe: New Countdown 2010 hubs in Africa, Asia and Latin America engage stakeholders to save biodiversity by 2010. Within Europe, the initiative is also gaining momentum - the European Union reconfirmed its commitment to the 2010 biodiversity target with an ambitious action plan. The European Countdown 2010 initiative supporting the process counts 170 partners and ten thousands of visitors on its new website.
Countdown 2010, a powerful network of active partners works to reach the 2010 biodiversity target, aiming to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010.
“Over the last months, we have seen an impressive interest and momentum to reach the 2010 biodiversity target,” comments Sebastian Winkler, Head of Countdown 2010. “Countdown 2010 hubs are emerging in places as diverse as the Lower Mekong, Southern Africa and South America, and we expect Russia and China to join this movement as well.”
These new Countdown 2010 hubs will engage stakeholders to find ways to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target in their particular region. This includes a first consultation workshop and a scoping paper in early 2007, both answering the question what needs to be done to reduce biodiversity loss, and how Countdown 2010 can contribute to this in the next four years.
In Europe, the initiative had set out to engage ‘European governments and members of civil society to take the necessary actions to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010’. By now, twelve governments and 160 other organizations joined Countdown 2010, and are actively working to save biodiversity. The European Union and its Member States have started to implement a detailed action plan towards 2010.
The Countdown 2010 Secretariat, hosted by the World Conservation Union’s Regional Office for Europe, provides information to all partners and supporters of the initiative and has just relaunched its website (insert hyperlink) to facilitate this task. It puts particular emphasis on the development of partnerships with local authorities and private businesses.
Countdown 2010 is a powerful network of active partners working together to reach the 2010 biodiversity target. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, Heads of State promised to ‘significantly reduce the loss of biodiversity by 2010’. A similar target commits European countries to ‘halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010’.
For more information:
- New Countdown 2010 website: www.countdown2010.net
- European Union Action Plan to reach the 2010 biodiversity target: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/current_biodiversity_policy/biodiversity_com_2006/index_en.htm
- Wiebke Herding, wiebke.herding@iucn.org, T +32 2 732 0321
www.countdown2010.net 2/2 18/01/2007
