Conventions:
a land-based approach to promote synergy
The
States that are Parties to environment-related international
Conventions have been identified as potential users of the
Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) since its inception.
Recently, focus has been on raising awareness of GTOS products
and services amongst delegates from State Parties and observer
organizations during statutory meetings. GTOS proposes to
provide support to the various Conventions through a common
thread based on issues related to trends in land cover and
land use. All GTOS Panels are expected to cooperate in this
endeavour. The approach will be framed within the Plan of
Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
and its emphasis on synergy among environment-related Conventions
in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification
and land degradation.
Rio
Conventions
GTOS
has worked towards the assessment of reporting needs of
the State Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) and the promotion of harmonized collection, analysis
and exchange of relevant information related to land degradation.
GTOS can also provide a strong practical contribution to
analysis relating to deforestation issues, setting up a
monitoring network of in situ observations and modelling
estimates of biomass data, suggesting a suitable time interval
for baseline and the monitoring activities, and assessing
the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from deforestation
activities.
As requested
by the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a report was made to its Subsidiary
Body for Scientific and Technological Advice on the progress
made in the development of a framework for the preparation
of guidance materials, standards, reporting guidelines,
and associated data and products for terrestrial observing
systems. The occasion was taken to re-affirm GTOS commitment
to assisting UNFCCC, in close partnership with GCOS, in
meeting its long-term objective to stabilize GHG concentrations
in the atmosphere and to assist member countries to meet
their obligations and to confront the effects of climate
change.
GTOS
recognizes the linkages between climate change and biodiversity
in the its cooperation with the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD), as well as issues related to coastal biodiversity
and connectivity or fragmentation of terrestrial ecosystems.
Biodiversity-Related
Conventions
Within
the framework of reducing the current rate of biodiversity
loss, GTOS has been working together with the Secretariat
of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and its Mediterranean
Wetlands Committee to identify activities for joint implementation.
A Memorandum of Cooperation between GTOS and the Convention
was announced by the Secretary-General of the Ramsar Convention,
Dr Peter Bridgewater, when opening the GTOS side event during
the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the
Ramsar Convention. TEMS, Coastal-GTOS and the GLCN were
identified as the leading initiatives in cooperation with
the Ramsar Convention and as exploratory tools for partnership
with the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals
(CMS) and CBD.
GTOS
has been assessing its role in support of CMS requirements
in terms of facilitating the provision of data and information
needed to review major threats to migratory species and
obstacles to migration, through the integration of in situ
and remote-sensing terrestrial observations. These issues
were presented at the CMS Partnership Fair: Onthe move to
2010 held during the 8th Meeting of the Conference of the
Parties to the Convention.
