International policies
In addition to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the European Plant Conservation Strategy, many other international agreements target plant conservation and biodiversity protection.
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention)
The Bern Convention is an international nature conservation agreement, adopted and signed in Bern (Switzerland) in September 1979. It covers the whole of the natural heritage of the European continent and extends to some states of Africa.
Its aims are to conserve wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats and to promote European co-operation in that field. It counts among its contracting parties 40 member states of the Council of Europe, and extends to some states of Africa.
Under the Bern Convention, the European Strategy on Invasive Alien Species (PDF) has been developed and adopted. Invasive species are a major problem for plant conservation; therefore this strategy is highly relevant to plant protection.
The most important legislation for plant conservation in the EU is the Habitats Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, which was adopted in 1992. With the Habitats Directive, the EU implements the Bern Convention in all EU countries. It requires all EU member states to introduce a range of measures including the protection of species listed in the Annexes and to undertake surveillance of habitats and species. They also need to produce a report on the implementation of the Directive every six years.
The Habitats Directive also creates a network of protected areas that are of national and international importance, called Natura 2000.
The following multinational environmental agreements influence specific plant conservation problems or certain habitats:
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Halting the loss of biodiversity
The UN Millennium Development Goals, in particular goal 7 (ensure environmental sustainability) calls to integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes. The loss of environmental resources must be reversed.
At the Sixth Conference of the Convention on Biological Diversity in The Hague, April 2002, the parties acknowledged that biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate and resolved to strengthen their efforts to put in place measures to halt biodiversity loss at the global, regional, sub-regional and national levels by the year 2010. The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in August to September 2002 in the South African Johannesburg. The summit endorsed in its Plan of Implementation the achievement by 2010 of a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biodiversity.
In Europe, the heads of states in the EU committed themselves to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, and make this a goal in the European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development (European Council summit in Gothenburg, June 2001). Furthermore, Ministers and Heads of delegation from 51 countries in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe region adopted a common statement of ministers on their intention to "halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010" in the Kiev Resolution on Biodiversity (link to doc in download section) at the fifth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference in Kiev (May 2003).
Biodiversity loss is the key concern of plant conservation to date, and urgent action must be taken to implement these commitments. Plantlife International therefore supports the Countdown 2010 initiative, a forum for conservation bodies and governments to promote strong measures against the worldwide biodiversity loss.
