Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Principle 12: The ecosystem approach should involve all relevant sectors of society
and scientific disciplines.
Further elaboration of these principles continued in subsequent SBSTTA and COP meet-
ings, until in 2004 at COP 7, where 'The Ecosystem Approach' was elaborated with imple-
mentation guidelines, and formally accepted as part of the CBD rubric. At the same time,
the COP also agreed that the priority at this time should be to facilitate the implementation
of the ecosystem approach (decision VII/11), thus learning from practical experiences. It
was also noted that 'one-size-fits-all' solutions are neither feasible nor desirable.
Soon, 20 years will have passed since the CBD first started to contemplate the ecosys-
tem approach. Although systematic, global application of the ecosystem approach is still
lacking, there are now a number of successful examples from regional, national, and loc-
al levels. There is also a lack of comprehensive documentation of implementation, despite
efforts such as the CBD case study database, which currently contains only 14 case studies
related to marine and coastal ecosystems. These 14 case studies refer to a variety of imple-
mentation tools and approaches, including national and regional bioregional planning pro-
cesses, putting in place marine protected areas, rehabilitation of ecosystems, incorporation
of sustainable use, and bottom-up activities implemented by local fishermen. This range of
examples is an indication of the wide variety of actions that could be considered under the
ecosystem approach.
Perhaps the most comprehensive implementation has been achieved through integ-
rated marine and coastal area management (IMCAM), which is an approach that has been
in use for over 30 years. According to the 2005 3rd National Reports of the CBD, 78.4% of
all CBD parties had instituted IMCAM, including catchment management. Although more
current statistics are not available, the figure is likely to be higher today, based on the fact
that all coastal countries which submitted a 4th National Report indicated some IMCAM-
related activities (CBD,
2010
).
