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
