Biodiversity Meeting in Japan adopts Nagoya Protocol as Global Tiger Initiative and other conservation groups prepare way for St. Petersburg International Tiger Forum

Nagoya, Japan – After two weeks of difficult negotiations between developed and developing countries, parties came together at the CoP10 Convention on Biological Diversity meeting, agreeing on critical issues such as access to genetic resources as well as the distribution of profits derived through the use of these resources. The ambitious agreements, called the Nagoya Protocol and Strategic Plan 2011-2020, were made in the final hours. Measured progress was made in the establishment of targets to prevent biodiversity loss and calling for the conservation of at least 17% of the world’s terrestrial areas and inland water areas, and 10% of coastal marine areas as biodiversity protection zones.

During the high level segment of CoP10, government leaders from Japan and around the world joined the biodiversity and conservation community to advocate for a stronger, more lasting, and realistic strategy to limit biodiversity loss. Several organizations lobbied on behalf of wildlife conservation.

The Global Tiger Initiative joined partners from conservation organizations and the Government of Japan by holding awareness-raising events and maintaining exhibits at the Biodiversity Fair next to the Nagoya Convention Center. The World Bank, World Wildlife Fund, IUCN, Conservation International, Ministry of Environment of Japan, and various other NGOs and corporations held events to raise public awareness on wildlife conservation issues.

Conservation International hosted a reception with Japanese Minister of Environment Ryu Matsumoto and Hollywood star Harrison Ford on protection of critical ecosystems, and the Global Tiger Initiative’s October 28 high level event brought 4 ministers of tiger range countries to the stage together with World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick and Global Environment Facility CEO Monique Barbut to plead for stepped up efforts and energy from the international community as the St. Petersburg International Tiger Forum, scheduled for November 21-24, approaches.

“The GTI is taking a highly methodical approach to the challenge of saving the wild tiger. First, all tiger range countries came together on a common platform to exchange knowledge and best practices and then to agree on a shared goal of doubling the number of wild tigers across the range from about 3,200 today to 7,000 by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger,” opened Robert B. Zoellick of the World Bank, who helped launch GTI back in 2008.

Ministers of Environment from Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, and Malaysia also spoke on how the Global Tiger Recovery Program was developed by the tiger range countries and how it will affect conservation efforts on the ground in their respective countries. Senior Vice Minister of the Environment Shoichi Kondo represented Japan.

The Bank and other organizations hoped the strong representation at Nagoya would encourage the global community to build commitment and support to deploy new technical and financial resources to strengthen biodiversity conservation at the national, regional, and global levels. It was the last meeting before the International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg.

Meanwhile, perhaps one of the most popular characters of all in Nagoya was ‘Tora’ the tiger, who braved nearly 400 kilometers from Tokyo to Nagoya for 4 days leading to the CoP10 high level segment. In his “Follow the Tiger” campaign, he spoke to children, activists, merchants, and all kinds of other people along his route, pleading for more attention to the tiger crisis.

• Click here to read President Zoellick’s remarks at the Opening Plenary Session
• Click here to read President Zoelick’s remarks at the Ecosystem Services Valuation Wealth Accounting Launching Press Conference
• Click here to read Smart Green Infrastructure in Tiger Range Countries Paper