Delegates from the 8 Member Countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) celebrated on May 22 (International Day of Biological Diversity) the approval of the Regional Program on Biological Diversity for the Amazon Basin/Region. The Program was approved during a meeting held on Friday, May 21, 2021.
The Regional Program for Biological Diversity of ACTO, built on participatory base throughout 2020 and the first months of this year, will be the guiding framework for the development and implementation of strategic actions of regional cooperation on biological diversity in the Amazon region, thus reflecting a shared vision of conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
The Program aims at improving the management of biological diversity and the protection of the traditional knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and other Tribal Communities of the Amazon Basin/Region. Short, medium and long-term collaborative and cooperative actions will be carried out to achieve the objectives of the CBD, its management instruments and the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, considering the visions, approaches, models and instruments implemented, in accordance with the national regulations of the Member Countries.
The Program components are:
- Regional scientific assessment of the status, trends, and causes of the loss of biological diversity and deterioration of the benefits of ecosystems/ environmental functions/ environmental services/ contributions of nature to people, in the Amazon Basin/Region; and the assessment of the progress made in the restoration and sustainable use of biological diversity.
- Regional mechanisms and instruments to support the conservation, restoration, forest management, and sustainable use of the components of biological diversity.
- Strengthening of national capacities for the management of biological diversity with regional impact.
- Strategic planning and institutional strengthening of ACTO.
The approval of ACTO’s Regional Program for Biological Diversity coincides with the celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity with the 2021 theme “We are part of the solution.” Thus, ACTO and its Member Countries join the effort towards achieving the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
