Posted on April, 29 2008

In 2001, EU Heads of State and Government meeting at the EU’s Spring Summit in Gothenburg, made a commitment to “halt the decline of biodiversity by 2010”. In 2002, on the occasion of the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and, subsequently, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), world leaders agreed to “the achievement by 2010 of a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity”.

The aim of this paper is to provide a brief analysis of the progress made by the EU towards the 2010 Biodiversity Target in its external development co-operation policy with a focus on policies and programmes for Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and Asia and Latin America (ALA) countries. Progress made is assessed in light of the political commitments and instruments adopted and their implementation. Whilst acknowledging the importance of the development aid delivered through bilateral relations, the paper focuses on the initiatives and undertakings made by the European Commission in its development cooperation policy to foster the achievement of the 2010 Biodiversity target outside Europe.