Roger Safford/BirdLife A World Bank study in Madagascar found that for every one US dollar invested in conservation, two more have been generated for sustainable development Zoom In

G8 push for conservation-poverty link

22-06-2005

Protection of the world’s best yet most vulnerable wildlife sites will be on the agenda of the next G8 meeting held in Edinburgh in July.

The Italian government, after discussions involving more than 100 other governments, will urge G8 leaders to address threats to wildlife, shortfalls in funding for site protection in developing countries and the links of both to poverty alleviation and other Millennium Development Goals.

The decision to lobby at Edinburgh next month was made late yesterday at the end of a nine-day meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montecatini, Italy.

BirdLife International’s Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, who attended the meeting said, "We have almost unprecedented agreement, among governments and environmental campaigners, that funds for wildlife conservation and site protection play a crucial role in improving the welfare of some of the world’s poorest people."

"Verbal support from G8 countries will not be good enough to achieve this important aim. There must be money from these rich nations to help their poorer counterparts. Without it, wildlife and wildlife sites will disappear and with them the innumerable benefits man gains from them." —Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, BirdLife International

A BirdLife/RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) report, presented to the meeting, showed the links between wildlife conservation and human welfare in Africa.

'Financing Protected Areas in Africa' studied the continent’s 1,200 national parks and reserves and found that biological resources provide food, medicine and many sources of income. It also found that the long term benefits of site protection are worth double the investment required while significantly boosting hopes of survival for at risk species.

An earlier world bank study in Madagascar found that for every one US dollar invested in conservation, two more have been generated for sustainable development.

Alistair Gammell, Director of International Operations at the RSPB commented, "The value of wildlife-rich sites to regional development and to the world as a whole is not recognised or supported. Our report shows that protecting the fabulous wildlife that millions of us regularly travel to see is a bargain and a benefit far beyond any wildlife spectacle. It is time the world’s most powerful nations started helping with its conservation."