Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Annual Review 2012

AEBAR 2012: Marine Biodiversity
been used to assess the habitat types at greatest risk from disturbance, particularly fishing. However,
the proportions of marine habitat types should be or can be protected to maintain a healthy aquatic
environment is unknown.
There is growing awareness of the likely importance of the huge diversity, biomass and species mix of
micro-organisms, nano- and pico-plankton, and is a fast developing field of research. The rate of
change and the resilience of biodiversity to the cumulative effect of multiple stressors across large
spatial scales (e.g. ocean acidification, temperature increase and oxygen depletion), particularly as
utilisation of marine resources increases, remain semi-quantified (Ramerez-Llodra et al. 2011).
Understanding the dynamics of climate change and predicting the impacts on food webs and fisheries
are only just being investigated (e.g., Fulton 2004, Brown et al. 2010, Garcia and Rosenberg 2010).
11.2. Global understanding and developments
In April 2002, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) committed to achieve by
2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national
level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth. This target was
subsequently endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the United Nations
General Assembly and was incorporated as a target under the Millennium Development Goals 19 .
The third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook confirmed that the 2010 biodiversity target had
not been met, and the CBD 2010 Strategic Plan notes that “actions [to achieve the 2010 target] have
not been on a scale sufficient to address the pressures on biodiversity 20 . Moreover there has been
insufficient integration of biodiversity issues into broader policies, strategies, programmes and
actions, and therefore the underlying drivers of biodiversity loss have not been significantly reduced”.
The Strategic Plan includes a new series of targets for 2020 under the heading “Taking action now to
decrease the direct pressures on biodiversity”. The Strategic Plan for 2011–2020 was updated,
revised and adopted by over 200 countries, including New Zealand 21 .
The eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (held
8-19 Oct 2012) 22 generated some agreed outcomes of relevance for New Zealand, in particular:
• There was confirmation that the application of the scientific criteria for EBSAs and the
selection of conservation and management measures is a matter for states and relevant intergovernmental
bodies but that it is an open and evolving process that should continue to allow
ongoing improvement and updating as new information comes to hand
• It was recognised that there was a need to promote additional research and monitoring in
accordance with national and international laws, to improve the ecological or biological
information in each region with a view to facilitating the further description of the areas
described
• There is a tentative schedule of further regional workshops to facilitate the description of
areas meeting the criteria for EBSAs.
19 UNEP's work to promote environmental sustainability, the object of Millenium Development Goal 7,
underpins global efforts to achieve all of the Goals agreed by world leaders at the Millennium Summit
http://www.unep.org/MDGs/
20 www.cbd.int/2010-target
21 draft updated and revised Strategic Plan for the Convention on Biological Diversity for the post-2010 period
(UNEP/CBD/WG-RI/3/3) http://www.cbd.int/nagoya/outcomes/
22 http://www.cbd.int/doc/?meeting=cop-11 UNEP/CBD/COP/11/23 Marine and Coastal Biodiversity:
Revised Voluntary Guidelines for the Consideration of Biodiversity in Environmental Impact Assessments and
Strategic Environmental Assessments in Marine and Coastal Areas
235