Approaches to implementing the Biodiversity Convention

German development policy is committed to the conservation of global biological diversity. This means that it takes account of areas outside the scope of classic environmental and development-related policy-making. The aim is to ensure that ministries and NGOs responsible for biodiversity in Germany and its partner countries make concrete progress in the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and proceed with the development of instruments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other environmental agreements.

German development policy

German development policy needs to mainstream the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as key elements of sustainable development. This applies not only to the environmental sector, but also to other areas such as decentralisation, or forestry and agriculture. In addition, cooperation on biodiversity must transcend institutional boundaries.

GTZ therefore advises the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), other ministries, the German Development Service (DED), KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW Development Bank) and organisations in the partner countries. GTZ is in continuous contact with NGOs in order to ensure that strategies and measures are coordinated. At conferences, GTZ speaks for German development institutions, contributing their experience in biodiversity management. In this way GTZ works at international level to bring the CBD forward.

Partner countries

GTZ helps partner countries to incorporate the provisions of the CBD and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety into national policy and to take account of biodiversity in their poverty reduction strategies – because long-term poverty reduction and food security must be based on sustainable use of land and of genetic and biological resources.

Such sustainable use of biodiversity is of especial benefit to people in rural areas who manage these resources and depend on them. These people include in particular local and indigenous communities, and every effort is made to involve them in plans to implement the CBD. For example, GTZ advises them on the management of protected areas and on the development of new sources of income. They are involved in decisions on the use of genetic resources and the equitable distribution of profits. They are helped, too, to use and maintain their local and traditional knowledge and to represent their own interests more effectively. Pilot projects such as those in China and Latin America are showing great potential in this area.

International organisations

GTZ’s experience in implementing the CBD is passed on through communication and consultancy channels to international organisations. This knowledge can be used by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) or institutions in developing countries – such as the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) – not only in developing their own plans, but also in arguing more effectively for the conservation of biodiversity and committing themselves to policies that accord with the CBD.