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SPEECH OPENING SPEECH BY WHITE SANDS HOTEL AND RESORT 9-11 JUNE 2004 Mr. Chairman, It is a great honour to be with you this morning to officiate the opening ceremony of this important 4th Regional Session of the Global Biodiversity Forum for Africa whose theme is Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Africa: Delivering on the Millennium Development Goals. On behalf of the Government and People of the United Republic of Tanzania, let me welcome you all to Tanzania, one of the countries with great diversity of biological resources and thus a natural place for such gathering. Let me also express my sincere appreciation on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme and as the President of its Governing Council, to you all for leaving behind equally important commitments and avail your valuable time to participate in this forum. This is indeed a sign of your commitment and dedication to the issues related to biodiversity and development in Africa. Your efforts are very highly valued. Mr. Chairman, Global Biodiversity Forum is exemplary in its role of enhancing partnerships, networking and exchange of experiences through engaging a wide range of stakeholders including governments, local communities, NGOs and the private sector in addressing biodiversity management and related issues. It is an important platform especially for developing countries like Tanzania, where more effort is needed and required to strengthen participatory processes for effectively informing biodiversity policy-related processes and implementation of biodiversity conventions and policies. It is my hope this current and particular session will be able to achieve all these and the GBF concept in general will continue to function and help in providing effective support to various intergovernmental processes. Mr. Chairman, Let me also stress the significance of biodiversity as an important part of Africa's natural and cultural heritage. On the other hand, the rich diversity of Africa's flora and fauna entails heavy responsibility for its people to manage, conserve and sustainably use this wealth of biological wealth to eradicate poverty. Africa accommodates more than 50,000 known plant species and is well known for the enormous diversity of its wildlife, the continent being home to more than 1,000 mammal species and 1,500 bird species. Eastern African has the highest numbers of endemic species of mammals (55%), birds (63%), reptiles (49%) and amphibians (40%) on the continent. At the ecosystem level the African continent has some of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. These include the Cape Floristic Province and Karoo eco-systems in Southern Africa, and the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests in East Africa, just to mention a few. Mr. Chairman, You will all agree with me that this rich diversity of fauna and flora presents tremendous opportunities for the African peoples who continue to depend on these biological resources for their livelihoods. Most local communities in the Eastern and Southern Africa region utilize biological resources on a day-to-day basis for their survival, especially those associated with forests, woodland and coastal ecosystems. These systems also provide important sources of income through the sale of harvested wild products. They are, however, facing increasing threat from both human activity and natural causes. Mr. Chairman, Countries within the sub-region share common environmental and natural resource management challenges. Marked by high rates of population growth, the economies of all countries are heavily dependent on natural capital. As the region's economic development is based on the export exchange revenues from minerals, forest products, fisheries and agricultural products, the deteriorating terms of trade and high indebtedness burden are compounded by severe and escalating costs of natural resource degradation with the related spin-offs over social and economic livelihoods of its population. This is worsened by the lack of capacity within the regional, national and local African governance structures to effectively address these issues. Given the complex and diverse environmental needs of the countries of the Africa Region, there is an increasing urgency for identification and support options for action to conserve biodiversity and use biological resources sustainably and more importantly equitably sharing of benefits while ensuring improved livelihoods of our people. It is therefore my sincere hope that your three days of deliberations will help to identify measures on how to address the challenges mentioned above. Mr. Chairman, African countries, as part of the international community, need to address their obligations in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular the goals to combat poverty and hunger while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability. These are dependent on effective conservation of biological resources, sustainable use of its component, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. There is need to undertake specific actions and interventions in achieving the MDGs while ensuring the document. This is in addition to our active participation in the regional and international processes of the convention. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed in these efforts and in making us meet our obligation in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and those related to it. Mr. Chairman, I realize that you have a lot of issues to cover in these three days to come. I have been informed that the forum will have four workshop themes. In this pursuit the forum will deliberate on biodiversity, agriculture and food security amongst the major areas of government level interest for addressing the challenges of poverty, livelihoods and environmental sustainability throughout Africa. Also to be deliberated on biodiversity and its linkages to health, at the backdrop of the situation that 80 percent of people living in developing countries rely on wild harvested plants for some aspect of their primary health care, according to World Health Organization estimates, caution has to be sounded and raised with respect to many plants being over-exploited. Governance and land reforms is another theme for discussion. Reforms for equitable access to land and natural resources while promoting sustainable management, is often seen as an opportunity for opening up new economic and production potential in rural areas. However, many countries are facing serious challenges in addressing the situation. There is need for review of experiences in the wider Eastern and Southern African regions of the different adopted approaches to help us identify options that will strike balance in addressing these challenges and without compromising the integrity of our societies and development focus. The fourth theme for discussion is managing uncertainty in a situation where risk and uncertainty pose major challenges to environmental management arena including legal and policy frameworks. Challenges are particularly acute where risks to biodiversity must be balanced against threats and risks to livelihoods, income, and trade or food security. Precaution remains highly challenging to implement as you have heard the voices particularly of the poor countries in the WTO, the CBD, CITES, and WSSD. With so much information gap surrounded by sometimes confusion and controversy, best practices and guidance on the application of precautionary principle are necessary. All themes are therefore important and pertinent to our situation in Africa. I urge all participants to freely and constructively contribute to the workshop and ensure that all these issues are adequately covered and are well articulated in addressing the challenges before us. Mr. Chairman, Let me conclude by expressing confidence for the best outcome of all thematic issues, workshops and the forum at large. The composition of participants reflects the necessary expertise and experience to achieve the objectives of the forum. Once again, I wish to commend the organizers of the forum for choosing Tanzania to be the host of the forum. We will make sure that Tanzania seizes the opportunity and becomes the first to benefit from its outcome and of course your presence with us. Last but not least I invite you to find time after the forum hours to explore the beautiful city of Dar es Salaam, the countryside and Zanzibar Islands for your memorable times to take back home with you. Mr. Chairman, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen, with these remarks, it is now my pleasant duty to declare the 4th Regional Session of the Global Biodiversity Forum for Africa with a focus on Biodiversity and Livelihoods in Africa: Delivering on the Millennium Development Goals officially open. I thank you for your attention |
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