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Last changed: 14/02/2010
The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, with the objective of stopping the loss of biodiversity, highlighting successes in conserving it and creating awareness of the fact that human welfare depends on biological diversity.
On 15 November 2009, delegates of 194 Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity agreed on a text for an international agreement to combat bio-piracy. In the future, profits made from the use of genetic resources are to be shared more fairly. Developing countries whose plants are used in industrialised countries for making medicines, for example, would benefit and be provided with an economic incentive for protecting their biodiversity.
The Federal Environment Agency now has a new service:Â an interactive and user-oriented map service provides large-scale visualisation of air pollution by particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide, and ozone in Germany.
The 4th Environment Observation Conference will be held 23/24 September 2010 in Essen (Germany). Its organisers are the North Rhine-Westphalian State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV), the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Environment Observation and Balance Council for Europe (EOBC). The focus will be on environmental and biodiversity monitoring.
The report “Data on the Environment” is published every four years. It takes stock of the development of the state of the environment in Germany, highlights environmental improvements and shows where action is still needed.
The 13th World Forestry Congress took place from 18 to 23 October 2009 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over 7000 participants from 160 countries discussed such issues as forests and climate change, forests and biodiversity, and certification. In his opening statement in his function as President of the COP9 Bureau of the Convention on Biological Diversity, UBA President Jochen Flasbarth highlighted the important links between biodiversity, sustainable forest management and climate protection.