This article was originally published by the Star newspaper, Monday 24-1-2010

By: Batir Wardam

The year 2010 has been declared by the United Nations as the year of Biodiversity. All countries that have signed the UN Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) back in 1992 will have to assess their progress in achieving the Biodiversity 2010 target that was agreed by the CBD in 2004 where a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss should be achieved. Moreover, parties in the CBD will have to agree this year on a new strategic plan for the next ten years. It is very unfortunate that Arab countries are among the least successful in achieving the biodiversity 2010 targets, mainly due to the lack of regional cooperation.

To start with the definitions, biodiversity is the variety of all forms of life, including genes, populations, species and ecosystems. Biodiversity underpins the services that ecosystems provide which are the functions that have values to individuals and the society at large.

Biodiversity in the Arab Region has exceptional value when considering the variability of ecological, chemical and genetic characters of the species “intraspecific diversity” which provides a wealthy stock of biological resources that can be utilized through biotechnology techniques to serve agricultural, medicinal and industrial purposes.

Going through the national reports submitted by 9 Arab countries to the CBDin 2009 depicting a comprehensive description of the status and challenges of biodiversity conservation, an analyst can conclude that all countries are off track in their efforts to achieve the biodiversity 2010 targets.

The unique and highly vulnerable biodiversity of the Arab Region is at serious risk from increased human activities. The main environmental issues of concern over biodiversity in the Arab Region are the degradation and/or destruction of habitats and the loss of species.

The underlying threats of biodiversity in the Region include population growth, agricultural and urban expansion to ecologically important areas, poverty and unsustainable use of biota, industrial pollution, and macro-scale stress such as drought. Mismanagement of rangelands, over-grazing, over fishing, hunting and hostilities have generated additional pressures.

Although the countries of the region invest quite significantly in protected areas, the region’s trend is still based on the expansion of areas declared as protected. There is little regional effort, with the exception of one or two country cases, where the whole issue of management effectiveness of protected areas is brought to the strategic and operational discussion levels.

Local community participation in the design and management of protected areas remain way below optimal levels not to mention unsatisfactory. Several regional attempts exist, with some good lessons learned and successes, to share more benefits derived from ecotourism and other socio economic programs with local communities. However, the whole need to involve local communities in the governance aspects and protected areas and decision making processes remain very limited. Further, no real efforts are made or clear strategies adopted for the analysis and reintroduction of traditional management knowledge and systems of natural resources and protected areas.

The region’s capacities for sound and effective management of protected areas are also suboptimal. Most existing capacities are related to conventional approaches and methodologies of protected areas management and little is done to learn more from local, regional and international best practices and success stories.

Communication, coordination and cooperation within the region on protected areas is one of its weakest points. Most programs are country driven. There is a real lack of effective fora for sharing experiences and knowledge. Total absence of trans-boundary cooperation and coordination is very evident and on top of all, very little international aid is provided to support and promote regional cooperation and networking in the fields of protected areas management.

Moreover, the principle of ecosystem approach that combines the integrated management of water, land and species within the framework of sustainable development is still at its embryonic stages in the Arab world in contrary to the majority of countries in the world where this approach is now the main strategic framework for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

With such ailing conditions, the Arab countries' record in the achievement of biodiversity objectives is not to be proud of, and it can be hoped that with the global focus on biodiversity in 2010 some new initiatives can be launched to achieve better results and adopt modern strategies and innovations that will address the above mentioned gaps.