Countdown 2010 Declaration

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Biodiversity - the web of life on earth - is essential to the quality of human well-being, and it is a crucial element in sustaining the social, economic and spiritual dimension of all Europeans. Yet, biodiversity continues to decline. Political commitments have been made to stop this trend by 2010. Further steps need to be taken to honour this commitment and to translate it into action.

We the undersigned will take every practical opportunity to:

Support the commitments to halt or significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, made by:

• European Union Heads of State and Government in the Presidency Conclusions adopted at the Göteborg European Council, Sweden in 2001;
• World Environment Ministers in the Hague Ministerial Declaration of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in the Netherlands 2002;
• World Heads of State in the Plan of Implementation at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002;
• European Environment Ministers and Heads of Delegation of the region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in the Declaration of the fifth Ministerial “Environment for Europe” Conference, in Kyiv, Ukraine 2003.

Encourage European decision makers at all levels, in both the public and the private sector, to contribute to these commitments and to

• Increase public awareness and participation for biodiversity conservation, including the promotion of exemplary activities towards the 2010 biodiversity target;
• Better integrate biodiversity considerations into all relevant sectors of public policy and economy;
• Undertake serious efforts to adapt human activities to the needs of natural systems;
• Likewise address the loss of biodiversity Europeans are causing in other regions of the world;
• Support the development of suitable monitoring and indicator tools to assess the state of biodiversity in Europe.

Commit ourselves to encourage and assist decision makers and European societies in achieving the 2010 biodiversity target, notably through:

• Actively promoting Countdown 2010 to focus attention and mobilise resources for achieving the 2010 biodiversity target;
• Significantly reducing our own impact on biodiversity.

Yes, we want to sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration

By signing the Countdown 2010 Declaration, an organisation becomes a partner of Countdown 2010. Partnership is open to organisations from all sectors and levels working in one or more Pan-European countries that can demonstrate their commitment to the 2010 biodiversity target.

To sign, please send the completed partnership form to the Countdown 2010 Secretariat.

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