Prepared by Mr Peter Skoberne, President of the Council of PEBLDS
25 September 2000

At the third Ministerial Conference 'An Environment for Europe', held in Sofia from 23 to 25 October 1995, the Ministers of Environment of the region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) and a representative of the European Commission endorsed the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS).

The principal goal of the Pan-European Strategy is to find a consistent response to the decline of biological and landscape diversity in Europe and to ensure the sustainability of the natural environment.

When adopted in Sofia in 1995, the PEBLDS set a general framework for cooperation aimed to last twenty years. Its first Action Plan identified actions to be undertaken between 1996 and 2000, and was designed as a first step towards reaching the long-term aims and objectives of the Strategy. The implementation of these activities are governed by the Council of the Strategy, which acts as a decision-making body and consists of representatives of 54 member States and a number of observers. The Secretariat of the Strategy is jointly provided by the Council of Europe and United Nations Environment Programme.

Results of the implementation of the first Action Plan include:

• Pan-European Ecological Network established and being expanded;

• substantive contribution made to the development of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans in almost all countries of the Pan-European region;- the Service for Implementing National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans focusing in Central and Eastern European countries launched and in operation;- a better understanding and integration of the protection of biological diversity and sustainable use of its components in economic sectors, including forestry, agriculture, tourism, transport, etc.;

• well focused awareness-raising programmes carried out;- a European Landscape Convention as well as Action Plan on Landscapes drafted;

• a Pan-European Code of Conduct for Coastal Areas and a Model Law on the Sustainable Management of Coastal Areas prepared;

• the integrated management of coastal zones demonstrated; -

• protection of forest biodiversity promoted and linked to sustainable forest management programmes of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe

• synergy and close co-operation promoted between the activities of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy, the Bern Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

At the Fourth Ministerial Conference 'An Environment for Europe' (Aarhus, Denmark, June 1998) Ministers of Environment adopted a general Declaration and a Resolution on Biological and Landscape Diversity, in which among other things, they acknowledged the progress made in the implementation of the Strategy and made recommendations for its further operation.

A second five-year Action Plan 2001-2005 of the PEBLDS is based on the decisions taken by the Aarhus Conference, analysis of the implementation of the first Action Plan and conclusions of the Intergovernmental Conference 'Biodiversity in Europe' (Riga, Latvia, 20-23 March 2000).

The priorities proposed in the second five-year Action Plan are:

• enhancement of the cooperation and coordination of the PEBLDS with relevant international processes;

• integration of biological and landscape diversity considerations into sectoral policies;

• capacity-building for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States;

• access to information, enhancement of communication and awareness on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity;

• development of the Pan-European Ecological Network;

• review, assessment, monitoring, reporting and funding.

The Riga Conference reaffirmed an important role the Pan-European Strategy plays in promoting the conservation of biological diversity throughout Europe. It suggested that the Strategy be further developed towards a European biodiversity agenda taking into account both global priorities as set by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and specific concerns of the region. A Memorandum of Cooperation between the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and UNEP and the Council of Europe, in their capacity as Joint Secretariat of the PEBLDS, signed on the occasion of the Riga Conference, provides a good basis for this process.

It is hoped that a strengthened, updated and revitalised Strategy will be submitted to Ministers of the Environment in Kyiv for consideration and endorsement, if possible and appropriate. This updated Strategy is seen as an effective and efficient tool for performing three major tasks:

• to increase the political profile and support for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in Europe as well as its integration in policies and programmes of economic sectors including agriculture and tourism;

• to serve as an intergovernmental forum for a European regional preparation for, and follow-up of meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and thereby for the enhanced and improved cooperation for the implementation of the CBD in Europe;

• to assist and reinforce the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in Central and Eastern Europe and especially in the Newly Independent States through the mobilization of external funding, provision of expertise and sharing of experience and information.