For more information, please download the Position Paper below:

(406.6 Ko)Note de Position 14ème COP CDB VF.pdf

 

 

The African Women’s Network for Sustainable Development (REFADD)

 

A specialized network of the Conference on Dense and Humid Ecosystems of Central Africa (CEFDHAC), focusing on gender issues and empowering women for sustainable management of natural resources;

 

 

A network that operates in the ten member countries of the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), through its national chapters: Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe as well as Chad;

 

 

Gathered in Libreville, Gabon, from 30 July to 02 August 2018, within the framework of the regional operationalization workshop on REFADD’s Strategic Action, the network’s members met on the sidelines of the workshop and presented the Position Paper for the Fourteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 14) on Biodiversity as follows:

 

 

Considering: 

• The adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 22 May 1992 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and its coming into force on 29 December 1993, as a legally binding international instrument established to curb biodiversity loss

 

• The Convention aims to promote conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources (ABS) 

 

• The existence of the three protocols adopted within the framework of the CDB, namely:

 

• The Cartagena Protocol on prevention of biotechnological risks;

 

• The additional Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Protocol on liability and redress, relevant to the Cartagena Protocol on prevention of biotechnological risks;

 

• And the Nagoya Protocol on ABS;

 

• The CDB’s Strategic Plan on biodiversity for the period 2011-2020 including the Aichi objectives and a decision on activities and indicators for the implementation of the resource mobilization strategy (COP 10, October 2010, Nagoya, Japan)

 

• The existence of three subsidiary bodies currently operating pursuant to the Convention, namely: The Subsidiary Body on scientific, technical and technological advice (SBSTTA), the Working Group on article 8j relating to traditional knowledge and related provisions, as well as the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI);

 

• The Progress report on the 2015-2020 Gender Plan of Action: CDB/SBI/2/2/Add3, included as Item 3 of the provisional agenda of the second meeting held in Montreal, Canada, from 09 to 13 July 2018;

 

• The forests of the COMIFAC countries, the second lung of the Earth, which harbor outstanding biological diversity;

 

• That in view of this diversity of biological resources, the COMIFAC countries have shown overwhelming support for the “Convention on Biological Diversity”;

 

• That the Executive Secretary (ES) of COMIFAC has established a technical working group called: The “Central African Biodiversity Working Group, abbreviated “GTBAC” which aims among other things to add value to biodiversity resources;

 

• The implementation of COMIFAC’s commitments through Strategic Thrusts 1 and 3 of COMIFAC’s Convergence Plan (CP), respectively aimed at aligning forestry and environmental policies as well as promoting conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity;

 

• The fact that national biological diversity strategies and action plans mostly classify women alongside youths among vulnerable groups, and rural women among particularly vulnerable or target groups.;

 

• The fact that women’s underrepresentation in stakeholder groups is widely recognized and viewed as a hurdle to biodiversity conservation or a direct cause of its depletion;

 

 

The African Women’s Network for Sustainable Development (REFADD)

• Welcomes the theme of COP 14 of the CBD entitled “Mainstreaming biodiversity in the energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing and processing and health sectors” which will be held for the first time on African soil.

 

• Further welcomes the United Nations Biodiversity Conference’s consideration of the implementation of the Strategic Plan and Aichi Objectives on Biodiversity, through decisions to promote biodiversity mainstreaming in production sectors including agriculture, fisheries, tourism and forestry which are key sectors for women;

 

• Also welcomes the fact that the four strategic objectives of the 2015-2020 Gender Plan of Action for Biodiversity remain unchanged, namely:

 

1. Mainstreaming a gender perspective into the implementation of the Convention and the associated work of Parties and the Secretariat;

 

 

For more information, please download the Position Paper below: