lunes, 20 de abril de 2015

Declaración de París 2014

En seprtiembre de 2014 se celebró en París, organizado por la UNESCO y el MNHN , la conferencia internacional 'Botanists of the twnty-first century: Roles, challenges and opportunities', para la que se redactó una declaración final suscrita por los 300 participantes en el evento. Tras el refinado de dicha declaración, se nos ha hecho llegar por diferentes foros a fin de facilitar su difusión. El texto es el que ponemos a continuación. Observad que entre otros temas destacables, se propone a las Naciones Unidas que 2017 sea declarado como Año Internacional de las Plantas para la Vida:

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Botanists of the twenty-first century: Roles, challenges and opportunities

UNESCO HQs and National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France, from 22 to 25 September 2014

FINAL DECLARATION


1. We, the 300 participants from 60 countries who have attended the International Conference “Botanists
of the twenty‐first century: Roles, challenges and opportunities” at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris,

2. Recalling the role of plants in creating a habitable biosphere and the absolute dependence of humanity
on plants,

3. Mindful of the importance of plant diversity for the maintenance of ecosystem services, functioning and
resilience, which are crucial to human well‐being, health, food security, livelihoods, sustainable development
and poverty reduction,

4. Recognizing that botany and the plant sciences more broadly are central to understanding and addressing
many issues related to sustainable development,

5. Concerned that tens of thousands of plant species face extinction in the wild during the twenty‐first century
as a result of habitat loss and degradation, climate change and multiple other factors, threatening
their future basis as a source of genetic resources to meet the needs of present and future generations,
and to continue to provide humanity with a wide range of ecosystem services,

6. Mindful of the human role in the cause and solution to these factors of extinction,

7. Conscious also of the key roles botanists and plant diversity must play in defining and achieving the Post‐
2015 Development Agenda and its eventual goals,

8. Aware that the UN system‐wide Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011‐2020 (SPB) and its Aichi Biodiversity
Targets provide a common strategy framework of activity and reference for the botanical community,

9. Welcoming the current implementation of international initiatives to document and safeguard plant diversity,
most notably the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) and the Global Taxonomy Initia‐
tive, agreed under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and implemented within
the broader context of the SPB,

10. Acknowledging the need, in a world undergoing profound changes, and in particular the decline of plant
diversity, for botanists to expand their endeavours beyond pure science, including by increasing their
engagement with the public, the private sector and in policy processes,

11. Having assessed the status of current knowledge and expertise related to plants, including scientific as
well as indigenous and local knowledge, and having considered the current contribution of men and
women botanists to meeting economic, environmental and educational and social challenges of the
twenty‐first century, and

12. Recognizing the magnitude and clear importance of a task that represents nothing less than a moral impera
tive for humanity,


We call on the community of botanists and plant scientists in general, and on the organizations for which
they work :

13. to increase their efforts to achieve the objectives and targets of the GSPC, especially those primarily undertaken
by botanists, including the successful completion of a World Flora Online by 2020 to provide an
essential baseline of knowledge about plants of the world,

14. to ensure that botany, which has successfully become an international, multidisciplinary, intergenerational
and participative science that engages citizen scientists and local communities, is strengthened and
expanded so that the unique contributions of the discipline will continue to support sustainability in coming
centuries,

15. to recognize that the twenty‐first century botanist needs to broaden their skills and strengthen partnership
in conservation, protected area management, horticulture, restoration ecology, forestry, agriculture,
education, advocacy, entrepreneurship, social sciences and communication,

16. to further recognize that in order to address the urgent need for reliable and rapidly‐accessible free access
information and knowledge on plant diversity and uses, new tools such as molecular methodologies
(including DNA barcoding), remote sensing, and information and communication technologies (including
internet facilities) have proven to be an indispensable complement to methods and disciplines of wellestablished
value, such as taxonomy, anatomy, ecology, ethnobotany, phylogeny and genetics, inter alia,

17. to continue collaborating with indigenous peoples and local communities and participating in relevant
botany programmes to conserve and valorise indigenous, traditional and local knowledge for the benefit
of humanity in full compliance with the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and Access
and Benefit Sharing (ABS),

18. to contribute to the success of the SPB and to the Post‐2015 Development Agenda and its planned Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), in particular to planned SDGs on food security and sustainable agriculture;
health; energy; cities; global climate change; the ocean; and ecosystems, forests, and biodiversity,
recognizing the essential contributions of botany to their achievement, and

19. In this context we call upon botanists, plant scientists and other relevant experts to participate in and
contribute to current and future assessments being undertaken by the Intergovernmental Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and we further call upon the institutions and organizations for which
these experts work to encourage, facilitate and promote this process.


Furthermore, we call upon governments, inter‐governmental and non‐governmental organizations, academia,
educational and research institutions, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local
communities:

20. to mainstream the sustainable use of plant resources and plant conservation into national and local sustainable
development strategies and plans,

21. to make available the necessary resources to maintain and strengthen botanical gardens, natural history
museums, plant collections (herbaria, xylaria, etc.) and other relevant bodies and institutions, to ensure
that they can continue as important centres for scientific research, knowledge and education and as vital
repositories and sources of information for present day and future needs in achieving sustainability,

22. to encourage without impediment the continued use, storage and sharing of plants and plant materials,
including varieties held by indigenous peoples and local communities, in compliance with all applicable
international, regional, national and local laws and regulations and with FPIC and following ABS principles,

23. to support technically and financially, the development and implementation of botany‐related programmes
to build and strengthen institutional and individual capacity, particularly to meet needs for
research and education on plant diversity in developing and least developed countries that are rich in
biodiversity,

24. to invite the private and development sectors to increase its support for capacity building programmes
in botany at all educational levels in developing and least developed countries in coordination with
UNESCO and in the context of multinational scientific, education and development assistance programmes
and activities,

25. to further invite the private sector to recognize the mutual benefits to be gained by collaboration with
botanists, particularly in view of ensuring the sustainability of new ventures and promotion of the green
economy,

26. to strongly encourage building bridges between botanists and society, through a wide range of organisa‐
tions, institutions and initiatives, including Botanic Gardens Conservation International, and biosphere
reserves under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme; natural, cultural and mixed sites under
the World Heritage Convention; and other nationally and internationally‐recognized protected areas for,
inter alia, in and ex situ plant conservation and restoration,

27. to invite UNESCO, other international organisations, and the broader botanical and conservation communi
ties to help organise and host future meetings to produce and share knowledge relevant to plant
diversity conservation and sustainable use, including on such subjects as ecological restoration and on
the conservation of indigenous and local knowledge about plants and their uses, and

28. to invite the CBD and UNESCO in collaboration with relevant biodiversity‐related conventions and UN
agencies to launch a campaign in 2016 on plant diversity and botany in the twenty‐first century with a
view for CBD to submit a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2017 as the
International Year of Plants for Life” and for UNESCO to declare the theme of 2017 World Science Day
as “Botany and the plant sciences for sustainable development”.

Paris, 24th September 2014

The Participants


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