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<p>The Government considers the Living Planet Report an interesting contribution to
increasing our understanding of the scale of the challenge facing species internationally
but has made no formal assessment of its findings.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Internationally,
we frame our work on biodiversity under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s
(CBD) Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
A comprehensive assessment, the Fourth Global Biodiversity Outlook, was published
at the recent 12th Conference of the Parties to the CBD. This reported significant
progress towards meeting some components of the majority of the Aichi Biodiversity
Targets. However, in most cases, additional action will be required to meet the targets
by 2020. The Parties agreed to take comprehensive and urgent measures to ensure the
full implementation of the Strategic Plan, including through the development and implementation
of their national biodiversity strategies and action plans.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>The Government helps achieve these global targets internationally through elements
of Overseas Development Aid (particularly forest protection through the International
Climate Fund and contributions to the Global Environment Facility) and through direct
and financial support for various international agreements including the CBD, the
Convention on Migratory Species and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). The Darwin Initiative provides up to £6 million bi-lateral funding
annually for developing countries to help meet their obligations under these international
agreements, improve biodiversity and natural environment management and reduce poverty;
and up to £2 million annually from the Darwin Plus fund for projects in the UK’s Overseas
Territories.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The UK Government is also taking a leading
role in global efforts to end the illegal wildlife trade. In December 2013, we announced
a £10 million funding package to support efforts in developing countries to tackle
the illegal trade in wildlife products. In February 2014 we hosted a high-level international
conference for leaders from over 40 nations. This resulted in the London Conference
Declaration, containing 25 commitments to action on enforcement and criminal justice,
demand reduction and sustainable livelihoods.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Domestically,
the Government set out its response to the CBD’s Strategic Plan in “Biodiversity 2020:
A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services”, which aims to halt overall
biodiversity loss by 2020. The strategy includes a commitment to achieve an overall
improvement in the status of our wildlife and to prevent further human-induced extinctions
of known threatened species.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It will be for Parties
to CITES to decide how that Convention should respond to the Living Planet Report
and other information about the status of species, which may be reflected in future
proposals to list endangered species under the Convention.</p><p><br></p>
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