Languages:
The source document for this Digest states:
FOCAL AREA | Protecting traditional knowledge, innovations and practices
HEADLINE INDICATOR Status and trends of linguistic diversity and numbers of speakers of indigenous languages
The Convention gives special consideration to the role and needs of indigenous and local communities, and recognizes the value of traditional knowledge and management practices relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The Convention also recognizes the possible merit of a wider application of such traditional knowledge, innovations and practices, pending approval of the holders. Recognizing the link between traditional knowledge and indigenous languages as a vehicle of transmission of such knowledge, a headline indicator on numbers of languages and of speakers of indigenous languages has been adopted. An analysis carried out by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reveals that, although a number of indigenous languages are believed to be threatened with extinction, it is difficult to obtain reliable and globally comparable statistics about trends of speakers of these languages. Moreover, in addition to the number of speakers of a language, a series of other factors should be taken into account to classify the extent to which a language is endangered.
UNESCO carried out a preliminary analysis of comparable assessments of numbers of speakers of indigenous languages, relying primarily on census data of countries in which censuses include information on language use. Information was obtained for just over 250 indigenous languages, for which comparable assessments had been done at two or more points in time. In the period between 1980 and 2003, the number of speakers of 149 indigenous languages had increased while 104 languages had lost speakers. Because the majority of these indigenous languages are only spoken by a small number of people there is great concern over the viability of these languages.
Source & ©: CBD 
Chapter 2: The 2010 Biodiversity Target: Establishing current trends, p.39
The source document for this Digest states:
FOCAL AREA | Ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources
The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources is one of three objectives of the Convention. These benefits would provide incentives to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. Some countries have implemented legislation controlling access to genetic resources, and there are a number of cases of benefit-sharing arrangements. However, there is no reliable central depositary of information on national access and benefit-sharing measures. Benefit sharing arrangements may involve some or all of the following: governments, local and indigenous communities, private companies, non-governmental organizations and scientific research institutes. As the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing develops options for an International Regime on Access and Benefit-Sharing, it is also considering ways to assess the degree to which this objective is achieved.
Source & ©: CBD
Chapter 2: The 2010 Biodiversity Target: Establishing current trends, p.39
The source document for this Digest states:
FOCAL AREA | Mobilizing financial and technical resources, especially for developing countries, in particular, least developed countries and small island developing states among them, and countries with economies in transition, for implementing the Convention and the Strategic Plan
HEADLINE INDICATOR Official development assistance provided in support of the Convention
Implementation of the Convention requires financial and technical resources. Parties to the Convention have agreed that developing countries require particular support to enable them to carry out measures required under the Convention. Besides the Financial Mechanism of the Convention, official development assistance—financial flows from developed countries—can be one component of assistance in the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity in poorer countries.
Using the three Rio markers developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in collaboration with the three Rio convention secretariats, the OECD Creditor Reporting System had collected, as of 31 October 2005, 7943 commitments targeting the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, including data from 15 member countries up to the year 2003. An additional developed country released similar data on the website of its agency up to the year 2003. Taken together, the 16 developed countries account for 77% of total net official development assistance in 2003, and their combined assistance to biodiversity accounted for 69% of total reported biodiversity related official development assistance in the OECD pilot study for the period 1998-2000. If representative, these figures would suggest that total earmarked aid for biodiversity has declined from about US$ 1 billion per annum, or just over, to some US$ 750 million.
Figure 2.20 shows the total aid volumes from the 16 developed countries that target the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The absolute volumes, in current prices, of biodiversity assistance from these 16 countries declined from 1998 to 2003, with slight recoveries in 1999 and in 2002. The figure also presents biodiversity funding as a share of total official development assistance from the 16 developed countries between 1998 and 2003. The percentage for biodiversity of the total overseas development assistance declined from just over 2% in 1998 to 1% in 2003. There were slight recoveries in 1999 and 2002.
The available information suggests that between 1998 and 2003, official development assistance earmarked for biodiversity has decreased by an average of 6% per year. The decrease in the proportion of biodiversity-related aid to total aid in the same period was about 13% per year.
Source & ©: CBD
Chapter 2: The 2010 Biodiversity Target: Establishing current trends, p.40
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