§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will report on the outcome of the meeting of the conference of the parties to the convention on biological diversity, with particular reference to progress made to the conservation of tropical rainforests. [4507]
§ Mr. ClappisonThis meeting, held in Buenos Aires from 4 to 15 November, successfully reached agreement on continued progress under the convention on a number of fronts. These included commitment to priority work on the assessment and monitoring of biodiversity, including the endorsement of a worldwide initiative for taxonomy developed by the subsidiary body to the convention earlier this year. Work programmes were agreed on agricultural and forest biodiversity. The latter will complement and not duplicate the work of the intergovernmental panel on forests and any successor process.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State attended the ministerial segment on 13 and 14 November and called for greater focus in priority setting under this convention. He also stressed the importance of national target setting and reporting, along the lines already under way in the UK, to enable global assessment of progress and efforts to implement the convention.