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into the line of fire of other HIV-fighting drugs. Before sending the
samples of the tree for testing or proceeding with further develop-
ment of Prostratin, the University of California followed PIC and MAT
principles and agreed to give back a substantial percentage of the net
revenue arising directly out of the research to the Samoan people.
Funds have also been supplied to local villages for schools, medical
clinics, water supplies and an endowment for the local rain forest.
Cooperation with partners
In addition to the Strategic Plan and the Nagoya Protocol, the Nagoya
COP also asked the Executive Secretary of the CBD to further collabo-
rate with relevant partners, particularly those in the Collaborative
Partnership on Forests (decision X/36). In response to this request,
the CBD Secretariat continues to collaborate with partners on a
number of topics, including the following.
Collaboration with UNFF
In December 2009, the CBD Secretariat signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the Secretariat of the United Nations
Forum on Forests (UNFF). On the basis of the MoU, the two
secretariats collaborate closely on a range of activities, including
capacity-building on forest biodiversity and climate change, and
forest financing in countries with low forest cover. UNFF’s four
Global Objectives on Forests are considered important stepping
stones towards achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020.
ITTO and CBD initiative
In March 2010, the CBD Secretariat also signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Secretariat of the International Tropical
Timber Organization (ITTO). Based on the MoU, and with generous
funding from the Government of Japan and other govern-
ments, the two secretariats started a joint initiative for the
conservation and sustainable use of tropical forest biodi-
versity. The initiative supports the implementation of the
CBD programme of work on forest biodiversity in ITTO
producer member countries through specific country
projects related to capacity-building, technical support
and guidance. The implementation of the initiative is led
by ITTO, in close consultation with the CBD Secretariat
and the Government of Japan. The initiative prioritizes
activities related to relevant goals identified in the CBD’s
Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. The country projects of the
initiative focus, inter alia, on the linkages between forest
biodiversity and climate change, biodiversity conservation
in production forests and transboundary conservation of
tropical forest resources.
CBD Liaison Group on Bushmeat
The CBD Secretariat also collaborates with partners in
the CBD Liaison Group on Bushmeat to address the
unregulated and unsustainable commercial hunting
and trade of wild mammals, birds and reptiles (‘bush-
meat’). The growing illegal commercial trade of these
animals and their parts is a critical problem across
tropical and subtropical countries, causing widespread
loss of forest biodiversity, imperilling the livelihoods
of forest-dependent communities and destabilizing
fragile tropical forest ecosystems. The Liaison Group on
Bushmeat consists of more than 50 experts from twenty
countries, and more than twenty international organiza-
tions, non-governmental organizations and indigenous
and local-community representatives. To address the
bushmeat crisis, the Group has developed national and
international recommendations towards the sustainable
use of bushmeat as well as options for small-scale food
and income alternatives to bushmeat hunting which are
based on the sustainable use of biodiversity.
REDD+ consultations
Finally, the CBD Secretariat supports the establishment
of a mechanism for reducing emissions from deforesta-
tion and forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon
stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhance-
ment of carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+),
to ensure that REDD+ efforts are beneficial for biodiver-
sity and contribute to the objectives of the CBD.
In sum, the CBD’s forest programme of work, ABS
Protocol and the new Strategic Plan for Biodiversity are
highly relevant to the future sustainable management
of forests. The International Decade on Biodiversity
2011-2020 will be a decisive period in setting the right
policies for a sustainable future, through National
Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and other
relevant instruments and for achieving the vision of
the Strategic Plan, so that ‘by 2050, biodiversity is
valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintain-
ing ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and
delivering benefits essential for all people.’
An aim of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity is to significantly reduce degradation and
fragmentation of all natural habitats
Image: Schneider/UNEP