Biodiversity, action plans: conservation of natural resources, agriculture, fishing and development

The Council adopted conclusion inviting the Commission and the Member States to implement the Biodiversity Action Plan for Economic and Development cooperation. The Council welcomes the Commission's detailed proposal for priority actions: - to ensure the coherence between the Community development cooperation policy and all other relevant policies, such as trade, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, in order to achieve the objectives of the Action Plan and to contribute to the global target of poverty reduction; - to strengthen the support to safeguard the rights of local and indigenous communities and to ensure the fair and equitable share of the benefits arising from the use of their traditional knowledge, innovations and practices; - to support integration efforts in partner countries and to make governments and civil society, including the private sector, NGOs and local authorities, more environmentally aware and by strenghtening their management capacities; - the Commission is called upon to strengthen the dialogue between the Member States, multilateral donors and institutions, in particular the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Council urges the Commission to allocate appropriate human resources in Brussels, to ensure effective implementation of policies.�