Countdown 2010 Declaration

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 societies worldwide. 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:

* 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;
* World Heads of State in the United Nations World Summit Outcome in New York 2005;
* A number of biodiversity related conventions and regional processes since 2001.

Encourage 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;
* Support the development of suitable monitoring and indicator tools to assess the state of biodiversity.

Commit ourselves to encourage and assist decision makers and 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.