Round table in Moldova dedicated to the Kyiv Resolution on
Biodiversity
On June 15, 2004 in the premises of the Parliament of Moldova in the frames
of project "Towards halting the loss of biodiversity
by 2010" BIOTICA Ecological
Society organised the Round table dedicated to Kyiv Biodiversity
Resolution adopted during the 5th Pan-European Ministerial
Conference in Kyiv in May 2003.
Organization of the Round table
Invitations for the Round table were sent to Members of the Parliament of the
Republic of Moldova, representatives of the President office, the Ministry of
Ecology and Natural Resources, research institutions, non-governmental organizations
and mass-media.
Overall, there were 58 participants at the Round table. (see the list of participants)
The folders with informational materials included:
Agenda of the Round table (In Romanian) (see the agenda
in English)
Kyiv Biodiversity Resolution (In Romanian and Russian)
Statement on the Pan-European Ecological Network (In Russian)
Declaration of the pan-European High-level Conference on Agriculture and
Biodiversity (In Russian)
Assessing national efforts towards the 2010 target. Report Template. (In
Romanian)
About the project "Towards halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010"
(In Romanian)
The history of global environmentalism (In Romanian)
The Convention on Biological Diversity (In Romanian)
The Global Environment Facility (In Romanian)
The Environment for Europe Process (In Romanian)
The Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and Pan-European
Ecological Network (In Romanian)
The Emerald network and The European Landscape Convention (In Romanian)
Natura 2000 (In Romanian)
The European Community Biodiversity Strategy (In Romanian)
CEEweb (In Romanian)
Water, Coffee-break and Lunch were provided during the Round table.
Round table
Mr. A. Conisescu, the Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Environment and
Territorial Development has been invited as a Moderator for the Round table.
Mr. Conisescu welcomed the Round table and emphasized the significance of biodiversity
conservation for the Republic of Moldova.
Gheorghe Duca, former Minister of Ecology, Construction and Territory Development
and now the President of Academy of Science described Moldova's participation
at Ministerial Conference in 2003 and made an overview of Kyiv Biodiversity
Resolution. According to his opinion, there is a potential for implementation
of Kyiv Resolution in Moldova, however, to achieve this there is a need for
a consolidation of cooperation between the state and non-state organizations
in order to find the common grounds.
Alexei Andreev, a member of Board of BIOTICA Ecological Society presented the
Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy, its aims, objectives,
structure and priorities, the way it works and its importance as a specific
European mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity for the Republic
of Moldova.
Head of Protected Areas and Biodiversity Department of the Ministry of Ecology
and Natural Resources-Valentina Caldarus described the undertaken steps for
implementation of Kyiv Resolution on Biodiversity in the Republic of Moldova
on the legislative and executive levels. Mrs. Caldarus analyzed the Moldovan's
experience, its achievements and challenges in the field of biodiversity.
Piotr Gorbunenko, Biodiversity Issue Group Coordinator of European Eco Forum,
presented the international efforts to achieve Kiev targets. In particular,
Mr. Gorbunenko shared the essence and the results of the 3rd Intergovernmental
'Biodiversity in Europe' Conference that was held in Madrid, Spain in January
2004.
Manager of "Biodiversity" Office in the Republic of Moldova Alexandru
Teleuta described the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan as
the basis for implementation of the targets of Kyiv Biodiversity Resolution.
Mr. Teleuta talked about the Strategy as the document that sets up the prerequisites
for saving geosystems, ecosystems and species of major importance for future
generations and establishes a basis for adequate management of natural resources
and sustainable development of social and economic systems. Mr. Teleuta brought
examples of improvements in legal and institutional framework and described
the current state of the Informational System, Monitoring and Database in the
Republic of Moldova.
Finally, Alecu Renita, a President of the Environmental Movement of Moldova
had a presentation on the role of NGOs in the process of biological
diversity conservation in the Republic of Moldova that has
to be strengthened for better results in achieving the Kyiv
targets.
After the presentation the participants openly and actively discussed the
current state of biodiversity in Moldova, analyzed the causes
for the present situation and proposed the possible ways for
solving the problems linked with biodiversity conservation.
In particular, the need to ratify the Protocols adopted during the Kyiv Conference
by the Parliament of Moldova, the issue of invasive species and the essence
of protected areas were discussed.
Special attention has been given to the causes that impede the implementation
of Kyiv Resolution among which could be named clashes between
legal and executive acts on the issue of protected areas,
lack of financial resources, absence of monitoring system,
insufficient work of NGOs and ineffective cooperation between
governmental and non-governmental institutions.
Some NGOs criticized the work of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources
(MENR) for the lack of attention towards public awareness
about biodiversity conservation and towards the work of NGOs
in this field. The MENR, in its turn, agreed with some fruitful
suggestions but also proposed to NGOs to play a more significant
role in the field of public awareness' raising.
After the discussions the Draft on the Recommendations of the Round table
was proposed. It should be noted that suggested amendments
or modifications related mainly to the issue of NGO involvement
in the nature conservation or some other things, i.e. they
did not concern the principals of the idea to realize the
steps towards loss of biodiversity.
Overall, the recommendations were supported and accepted by all participants
of the Round table and were proposed for reviewing and approval by the Parliamentary
Committee on Environment and Territorial Development. The latter, in its turn,
accepted the Draft on the Recommendations and agreed to consider and to approve
it on the Committee sessions within two weeks after the Round table.
It is hoped that the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Territorial
Development would take into account all worth proposals and suggestions and
would approve the Recommendations on implementations of Kyiv Biodiversity Resolution
provisions in Moldova- the document that will take on a special significance
and will gain an official status.
It should be said that according to the participants the
Round table has been recognized as successfully organized
opportunity to emphasize the aims and targets, defined by
Kyiv Ministerial Conference in Biodiversity Resolution and
in the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy.
Moreover it became a forum for discussing the achievements
and the problems in the field of biodiversity, for expressing
the opinions and the experience of different stakeholders
involved in the process of biodiversity conservation and finally,
for finding the ways of achieving the Kyiv targets in Moldova.
