Third National Report of Belgium to the Convention on Biological Diversity CONTENTS A. REPORTING PARTY ........................................................................................................................ 2 Information on the preparation of the report............................................................................. 2 B. PRIORITY SETTING, TARGETS AND OBSTACLES............................................................................ 5 Priority Setting......................................................................................................................... 6 Challenges and Obstacles to Implementation............................................................................ 7 2010 Target........................................................................................................................... 10 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)........................................................................ 38 Ecosystem Approach .............................................................................................................. 38 C. ARTICLES OF THE CONVENTION.................................................................................................. 57 Article 5 – Cooperation........................................................................................................... 57 Article 6 - General measures for conservation and sustainable use.......................................... 66 Biodiversity and Climate Change....................................................................................... 69 Article 7 - Identification and monitoring.................................................................................. 71 Decisions on Taxonomy .................................................................................................... 76 Article 8 - In-situ conservation [Excluding paragraphs (a) to (e), (h) and (j)].......................... 88 Programme of Work on Protected Areas (Article 8 (a) to (e)) ............................................ 91 Article 8(h) - Alien species...................................................................................................... 96 Article 8(j) - Traditional knowledge and related provisions .................................................... 102 GURTS ........................................................................................................................... 102 Status and Trends .......................................................................................................... 103 Akwé:Kon Guidelines...................................................................................................... 103 Capacity Building and Participation of Indigenous and Local Communities ....................... 104 Support to implementation............................................................................................. 105 Article 9 - Ex-situ conservation............................................................................................. 106 Article 10 - Sustainable use of components of biological diversity.......................................... 109 Biodiversity and Tourism................................................................................................ 114 Article 11 - Incentive measures ............................................................................................ 116 Article 12 - Research and training......................................................................................... 119 Article 13 - Public education and awareness.......................................................................... 124 Article 14 - Impact assessment and minimising adverse impacts........................................... 132 Article 15 - Access to genetic resources ................................................................................ 138 Article 16 - Access to and transfer of technology................................................................... 142 Programme of Work on transfer of technology and technology cooperation ..................... 144 Article 17 - Exchange of information..................................................................................... 150 Article 18 - Technical and scientific cooperation .................................................................... 152 Article 19 - Handling of biotechnology and distribution of its benefits .................................... 156 Article 20 – Financial resources ............................................................................................ 157 D. THEMATIC AREAS ..................................................................................................................... 163 Inland water ecosystems...................................................................................................... 165 Marine and coastal biological diversity .................................................................................. 170 General............................................................................................................................. 170 Implementation of Integrated Marine and Coastal Area Management ................................. 171 Marine and Coastal Living Resources ................................................................................. 172 Mariculture ........................................................................................................................ 175 Alien Species and Genotypes ............................................................................................. 176 Agricultural biological diversity ............................................................................................. 176 Annex to decision V/5 - Programme of work on agricultural biodiversity............................. 177 Forest Biological Diversity..................................................................................................... 184 General............................................................................................................................. 184 Expanded programme of work on forest biological diversity ............................................... 189 Biological diversity of dry and sub-humid lands..................................................................... 201 Mountain Biodiversity........................................................................................................... 204 E. OPERATIONS OF THE CONVENTION........................................................................................... 207 F. COMMENTS ON THE FORMAT..................................................................................................... 210 Abbreviations and acronyms used throughout the report…………………………………………………………………… 202 1 A. REPORTING PARTY Contracting Party Belgium N A T I O N A L F O C A L P O I N T Full name of the institution Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Name and title of contact Dr J. Van Goethem, Head of Department officer Mailing address CBD NFP, Vautier Street 29, B-1000 Brussels Telephone +32 2 627 43 43 Fax +32 2 627 41 41 E-mail [email protected] CONTACT OFFICER FOR NATIONAL REPORT (IF DIFFERENT FROM ABOVE) Full name of the institution Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences Name and title of contact Marc Peeters, Assistant to the CBD NFP officer Mailing address CBD NFP, Vautier Street 29, B-1000 Brussels Telephone +32 2 627 45 65 Fax +32 2 627 41 41 E-mail [email protected] S U B M I S S I O N Signature of officer Mr Roland Moreau, Director General - Environment, responsible for submitting Federal Public Service for Public Health, Food Security and Environment national report Date of submission September 2005 Informatiion on the preparatiion of the report Box I. Please provide information on the preparation of this report, including information on stakeholders involved and material used as a basis for the report. Belgium is a federal state, consisting of Communities and Regions. Three Regional Focal Points have therefore been designated besides the National Focal Point: For the Flemish Region: Dr Els Martens Nature Division, Ministry of the Flemish Community Koning Albert II-laan 20, B-1000 Brussels Tel.: +32 2 553 76 78, Fax: +32 2 553 76 85, E-mail: [email protected] 2 For the Brussels Capital Region: Dr Machteld Gryseels Green Spaces Division, Brussels Institute for Management of the Environment Gulledelle 100, B-1200 Brussels Tel.: +32 2 775 75 61, Fax: +32 2 775 76 79, E-mail: [email protected] For the Walloon Region: Ir Catherine Debruyne Direction de la Nature, Direction générale des Ressources naturelles et de l’Environnement Avenue Prince de Liège 15, B-5100 Jambes Tel.: +32 81 33 58 60, Fax: +32 81 33 58 22, E-mail: [email protected] For more informatio n on the political situation in Belgium and the distribution of competences, we refer to the Second National Report of Belgium to the CBD as well as to the reports and documents annexed to Box II. Procedure for the preparation of the report - 26.07.2004: notification 2004-060 of the CBD Executive Secretary on the Third National Reports was forwarded by email to the Belgian Regional Focal Points to the CBD and the federal Ministries of Environment and Foreign Affairs. - 14.09.2004: a letter referring to the preparation of the Third National Report was sent out to key biodiversity actors within Belgian administrations. - Begin February 2005: the Third