Back to top

Meetings of the 65th Session

High-level meeting of the General Assembly as a contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity (22 September 2010)

In its resolution 61/203, the General Assembly declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity and in resolution 63/219, it decided, as a contribution to the International Year, to convene a high-level meeting of the General Assembly at its 65th session, with the participation of Heads of State, Governments and delegations.

The meeting will be chaired by the President of the 65th session of the General Assembly. The panels will be co-chaired by Heads of State and Government at the invitation of the President of the 64th session of the General Assembly on the basis of equitable geographical representation. The President of the General Assembly will prepare a summary of the discussions during the high-level meeting for presentation at the closing plenary meeting and for transmission, under his authority, to the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Source: Note by the Secretary-General on the organisation of the high-level meeting [A/64/865]

Why does biodiversity matter?

Biological diversity underpins ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services essential for human well-being. Its continued loss, therefore, has major implications for current and future human well-being.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is one of the key international instruments for the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. As of today, 192 States and one regional economic integration organization have ratified the Convention.

At the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in 2002, States committed themselves to pursue a more efficient and coherent implementation of the three objectives of the Convention and the achievement by 2010 of a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biodiversity at the global, regional and national levels as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth (the “2010 biodiversity target”), noting that that would require action at all levels, including the implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans and the provision of new and additional financial and technical resources to developing countries.

The commitment to achieving the 2010 biodiversity target was reiterated by the World Summit in 2005 and in 2006 the target was incorporated in the Millennium Development Goals as part of Goal 7 on environmental sustainability.

>> More information: Site of the President of the 65th session of the General Assembly

Programme

>> More information on the panel discussions in A/64/685

Meeting coverage

Resources

International instruments
Other resources