Ms Sherry Ayettey, Minister of Environment Science and Technology is expected to join other ministerial delegations of other countries at High Level Segment (HLS) of the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known as COP 11, in Hyderabad.
Already a three-member technical team led by Professor Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chairman of the National Biodiversity Committee is participating in the various plenary and group deliberations. HLS provides an opportunity for Heads of States/ Delegations to facilitate the discussions and the adoption of a set of far-sighted decisions by COP that reflect the urgency of the issues facing the implementation of the Convention.
The Minister of the Environment of India, Jayanthi Natarajan, as host of the meeting, had identified four key issues, namely the Implementation of the strategic plan on Biodiversity 2011-2020, Coastal and Marine Biodiversity, Biodiversity for Livelihood and Poverty Reduction for discussion.
Ghana as part of the HLS is expected to moderate a section on issues including Biodiversity for Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction on Tuesday.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the progress made by the African group, Prof Oteng-Yeboah said the African Group Delegation had finalized key issues including the Implementation of the Strategic Plan of the Convention and the Achie Biodiversity Target for 2011-2020 and Financial Resources Mobilisation, to support the conservation of biodiversity which would be submitted to the HLS for consideration.
He said in line with the aims of the Biodiversity Conventions, Ghana's strategic plan would be finalized by the end of the year and sent to Parliament for final review. "We have done the majority of the work that is documentation, consultations and stakeholder's discussions in all the regions where the public were allowed to make inputs"," he said.
Shedding light on the Strategic Plan, he said the first feature was the creation and strengthening of the management of protected area systems. "This includes initiatives like the creation and rehabilitation of permanent protected forests, the creation of Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs), the implementation of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) which use birds as indicators of habitat quality, and the establishment of biodiversity corridor," he said.
Professor Oteng-Yeboah said the plan would help the creation and strengthening of management of ex-situ conservation systems while the thirdly characteristic of the plan dealt with the incentive measures and sanctions for the conservation, and the sustainable utilization of biological diversity, including economic and social incentive measures and sanctions.