Monday, March 20, in a press conference, the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Ahmed Djoghlaf, declared that the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-8) is the "most fantastic of all."
"We are beginning the conference with around three thousand delegates enrolled. There should be four thousand by the time it ends. This is twice the number present at the last two conferences, in Holland (2002) and Malaysia (2004)."
He highlighted the fact that 93 ministers of State have signed up for the meeting scheduled for next week during the COP-8. "There were only 14 ministers in Holland. In Malaysia the total rose to 16," Djoghlaf observed. "Brazil is to be congratulated for having placed the environment at the top of its political agenda."
The COP is the deliberative organ of the CBD, an international agreement that was one of the outcomes of the Eco-92, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
The three main goals of the Convention are: conservation of nature, sustainable exploitation of natural resources, and the protection of traditional knowledge.
Participating in the current edition of the conference are representatives of the Convention’s 187 signatory countries and the European Union.
Six thousand people will be in Curitiba through March 31 to join in the debates and negotiations. This total includes unofficial observers, who will not have access to the plenary sessions and official work groups.
Agência Brasil