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Photo: Magno Botelho Castelo Branco

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1. Introduction

One of the commitments assumed by theparties of the Convention on Biological Diversity -CDB - is to develop and to implement nationalbiological diversity strategies. In order that theseinitiatives become successful, it is important to havea strong articulation among all the society sectors,in a way that the sectoral actions be in accordancewith the three objectives of the CDB (theconservation of biodiversity, its sustainable use andthe fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derivedfrom the access to the genetic resources and theassociated traditional knowledge).

Intending to evaluate the course of thedevelopment and implementation of the NationalBiodiversity Strategies (NBSs) in the South America,in March of 1998, the World Conservation Union(UICN) carried out in Lima, Peru, a meeting with sixSouth American countries: Argentina, Brazil,Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Peru. The meetingobjective was the sharing of experiences and thereflection on the lessons learned through the incipientprocess of development and implementation of theNBSs in those countries. The main attainedconclusion mentions the necessity of discussionamong the varied parties during the preparation oftheir strategies in order to establish regionalagreements and positions.

Quarrels become still more necessary whiledealing with common interest subjects related to thefulfillment of the CDB objectives, in order to havethese subjects considered in the execution of plansand efficient application methodologies ofbiodiversity strategies.

In this context, the Government of Brazilconsidered important to update the knowledge ofthe NBSs from the South American countries, notonly of those six which had participated in that firstworkshop, but all the others, including Bolivia, Chile,Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela. TheMeeting goal was to enclose all the realities andcommitment perspectives of these nations in thebiodiversity conservation and to identify the mainadvances in the implementation process of the NBSs

REPORT OF THE MEETING FOR IDENTIFICATION OF ISSUES INBIODIVERSITY FOR COOPERATION AND INTERCHANGE AMONG THESOUTH AMERICAN SIGNATORY COUNTRIES OF THE CONVENTION

ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

since 1998. Furthermore, the identification of thecommon interest subjects related to biodiversity wasexpected because these subjects can be subsidiesfor the elaboration of joint action plans forimplementation of the CDB commitments.

For in such a way, the Ministry of theEnvironment (MMA) of Brazil, by means of theNational Biological Diversity Strategy Project,organized the Meeting for Identification of Issuesin Biodiversity for Cooperation and Interchangeamong the South American countries, with thefinancial support of the Global Environment Facility(GEF), the United Nations Development Program(UNDP), the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP) and the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation(ABC). The Meeting involved responsible actors forthe NBSs of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Paraguay, Peru,Suriname and Uruguay and had three objectives:

I. Presentation of the NBSs of the South-American countries: explanation of the NBSselaboration process, the main products achieved inthe process (for example, legal frameworks, nationalbiodiversity) policies of and proposals for futureactions;

II. Identification of subjects in biodiversityof common interest for cooperation andinterchange among the countries, and proposalof an agenda of priority actions to beimplemented in cooperation: In this sense,previously to the meeting, the countries’representatives responsible for the NBSs werecontacted. A discussion guide was elaborated toidentify common interest subjects. For that, threetypes of information had been requested: 1) indicationof priority actions according to specific subjects; 2)indication of the establishment of prioritygeographical areas for biodiversity conservation andsustainable use in bordering areas; and 3) list ofregional and bilateral formal cooperation agreementsin subjects related to biodiversity.

III. Presentation of the results ofobjectives 1 and 2 for international institutionsof project funding related to conservation and

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sustainable use of biodiversity: institutions thatfinances projects and the management of bilateralor multilateral initiatives were invited to present theiraction lines and to indicate possible agreementsaccording to the common interest subjects forcooperation, fruit of the discussion of the meeting.

2. Methodology

The work was developed in four stages:1. Preparatory phase2. Accomplishment of the Meeting3. Consolidation of results4. Publication and publicity of the results

2.1 Preparatory Phase

Initially, the team of the Brazilian NationalStrategy of Biological Diversity Project made acompilation of the official documentation of the NBSsand legal frameworks in each country.

In September 2003, the responsibleMinistries for the Environment in Argentina, Bolivia,Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, FrenchGuyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay andVenezuela were officially invited by the BrazilianMinister of the Environment (Annex 1 - List I) to arguein the Meeting the possibility of interchange andregional cooperation, aiming at to facilitate thefulfillment of the CDB commitments. The invitationrequested the indication of up to five representativesof each country, preferentially the focal points of theCDB and/or the managers of the National BiodiversityStrategy Projects. The Brazilian Governmentdefrayed the expenses with the trip of up to tworepresentatives for each country.

After the invitation was formalized, thecountries were contacted and requested to indicateof the representative names who would participatein the meeting as well as to send official NBSsdocuments not found in the initial compilation. At thesame time, official invitations of the Secretariat ofBiodiversity and Forests, from the Ministry of theEnvironment of Brazil, were sent to therepresentatives of Funding Institutions, ImplementingAgencies and Organisms of Technical Cooperation(Annex 1 - List II) to participate in the Round Tablethat would happen in the last day of meeting. In thisRound Table the mechanisms of support to the

implementation of initiatives related to biodiversitywould be discussed. Invitations were also sent tothe representatives of other Brazilian governmentalorganizations (Annex 1 - List III).

2.1.1 Information solicitationPreviously to the Meeting, two types of

information were requested to the countriesrepresentatives:

a) The NBS1 Summaries (text of four to sixpages) of the ;

This text should contain the explanation ofthe elaboration process of the NBSs , the mainproducts achieved in the process (for example, legalframeworks, national biodiversity policies) andproposals of action for the future. Such documents,besides other pertinent information to the Meeting,were made available in Spanish, Portuguese and inEnglish in the website created especially for theMeeting (www.mma.gov.br/biodiversidade/taller).

b) Indication of issues of Interest forCooperation.

For the indication of issues of interest forcooperation, a Discussion Guide was elaborated andsent in the beginning of November 2003 to therepresentatives. The Guide was also available inthe website of the Meeting. The indication of suchissues was considered important for a biggerdynamism and profit of the Meeting. The Guiderequested three types of information:

(1) Indication of Subjects for Discussion in theMeeting

In this section, subjects considered importantfor the discussion in the Meeting were firstlyindicated under the Brazilian point of view. Othersubjects of interest were requested to the countriesrepresentatives. The subjects indicated by Brazilrepresent the guidelines established for the six firstcomponents of the Brazilian National BiodiversityPolicy, instituted by the Decree No 4,339 after anample process of consultation to the nation. Theyare: 1 - Biodiversity Knowledge; 2 - BiodiversityConservation; 3 - Sustainable Use of BiodiversityComponents; 4 - Biodiversity Monitoring,Assessment, Impact Prevention and Mitigation; 5 -Access to Genetic Resources and the AssociatedTraditional Knowledge and Benefit-sharing; 6 -Education, Public awareness, Information and

1 The NBS summaries from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, French Guyana, Paraguay and Peru were sent previously to the Meeting.

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Publicity about Biodiversity. Each country wasrequested to indicate the pertinent activities oractions within each subject that could be interestingto share with the2. Furthermore, it was requestedthe indication of the possible mechanisms (financial,of capacity building, of network, among others) thatcould be used for the implementation of such actions.The model of the Discussion Guide can be found inAnnex 2.

(2) Indication of Priority Areas for BiodiversityConservation and Sustainable Use

The Ministry of the Environment of Brazilsupported the accomplishment of a process ofample consults to specialists in the diversetaxonomic groups that compose the Brazilianbiodiversity, during the period from 1998 to 2001.This process was known as “Seminaries ofEvaluation of the Brazilian Biomes”. Five Braziliansets of biomes were focused: Amazon; Pantanal andCerrado; Caatinga; Atlantic Forest and SouthernFields; and Coastal and Marine zone. Theseevaluations had counted on the participation ofrepresentatives of the academic sector, of non-governmental organizations and governmentalmanagers, and had resulted in the indication of 900priority areas for the conservation and sustainableuse of Brazilian biodiversity. 385 areas had beenmapped in the Amazon, 87 areas in the biomesCerrado and Pantanal, 82 areas in the Caatinga,182 in Atlantic Forest, and 164 areas in the Coastaland Marine zone. The complete map and thesynthesis document of the priority areas areavailable in http://www.mma.gov.br/?id_estrutura=14&id_conteudo=743 .

To assist in the decisions taking, the mapdefines three categories of importance for the areasconservation: extremely high, very high and high.There are also those defined as “insufficient known”,which demand an effort of studies in order to extendthe knowledge of the biodiversity and to indicate itsdegree of importance. As a contribution and dealingwith contiguous or continuous areas in the bordersof South-American countries, 68 areas amongst the900 priority ones were selected and can be objectfor cooperation actions in the management ofbiodiversity.

Considering that other South American

countries could also have established prioritygeographical areas for conservation and sustainableuse of biodiversity in their territories, Brazil suggestedconsidering these areas as a potential tool for theindication of cooperation issues. Thus, it wasrequested to the representatives’ informationconcerning the initiatives of identification of priorityareas for the biodiversity conservation and itssustainable use, in special in areas close to theborders with other countries, as what was made forBrazil3 (Chapter 5).

(3) Formal Cooperation AgreementsIn this session, the countries representatives

were requested to inform the main formal effectivebilateral and regional agreements among the SouthAmerican countries, and to relate them to the sixcomponents of the National Biodiversity Policy ofBrazil above-mentioned. The subjects had againbeen a suggestion of the Brazilian Government, butthe countries, in case that they had interest, couldsuggest other themes. The agreement name, theplace and date of the signature, involved countriesand the electronic address with more informationhad also been requested. The obtained informationwas compiled in table form and will be important forfurther consultations4.

2.2 Accomplishment of the Meeting

The Meeting was accomplished fromDecember 14th to 17th 2003, in the Glória Hotel, inthe city of Rio de Janeiro. The Meeting was attendedby a total of 69 participants (Annex 1 - List IV).Guyana and Venezuela could not sendrepresentatives. Service of simultaneous translationfor Portuguese, English and Spanish was available.

A cocktail welcome reception was held inDecember 14th. The opening of the meeting inDecember 15th was presided over by the Secretaryof Biodiversity and Forests of the Ministry of theEnvironment of Brazil, João Paulo RibeiroCapobianco, together with the Director forBiodiversity Conservation, Paulo Yoshio Kageyama,and the Manager for Biodiversity Conservation,Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, both also from theBrazilian Ministry of the Environment; the Assistantof the Division of Environment of the Ministry of

2 With regard to this section, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia had supplied information until the occasion of the Meeting.3 There was no return with regard to this request.4 Colombia supplied the list of the formal effective agreements for the country previous to the Meeting.

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Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Maria Angélica Ikeda; theEcosystem Director of the Brazilian Institute for theEnvironment and the Renewable Natural Resources- IBAMA, Cecília Foloni Ferraz; and the Director ofResearch of the Research Institute of the Rio deJaneiro Botanical Garden - JBRJ, HaroldoCavalcante.

The Meeting was divided in three parts: (1)Presentation of the countries NBSs; (2) Indicationof common interest subjects; and (3) Round tableon implementation mechanisms with the financingagents.

2.2.1 Presentation of the NBSsIn the first day of Meeting, the representatives

of the countries had 15 minutes to present therespective NBS, supplying information concerningthe process of the NBS elaboration; pointing whichwere the difficulties and lessons learned in theprocess as well as the results obtained (programs,projects, legal frameworks) and which are the nextsteps. At the end of each presentation, five minuteswere destined to the questionings.

Besides the presentations of the NBSs of thecountries, it was also presented:

The Regional Biodiversity Strategy for theTropic Andean Countries;The Strategy of Biodiversity Conservationof the Province of Salta, Argentina;The initiative of the Mega ProjectBiodiversidad of the Institute for the Eco-development of the Amazon region(ECORAE) of Ecuador; and

The comparative study of the NBSs of theSouth American countries, made by theRegional Office for South America of theWorld Conservation Union, IUCN - Sur.

2.2.2 Indication of subjects of common interestIn this phase of the Meeting, held in

December 16th, it was used the Guide with thecompilation of the information supplied by theparticipants as subsidy to the discussion in theplenary. The countries that had not delivered thefilled Guide were able to make it during the Meeting.

The dynamics initially adopted for the plenarywas to argue separately, for each component andeach subject within the components, the actions ofinterest suggested by the countries. The moderatorsof the plenary were the Director for BiodiversityConservation, Paulo Yoshio Kageyama, and the

Manager for Biodiversity Conservation, BraulioFerreira de Souza Dias, both from the MMA of Brazil.When it was verified that the time destined to thisstage of the Meeting would not be enough for thediscussion of all the specified actions and subjects,it was opted to modify the dynamics. In this way, thethree more important and priority subjects betweenthe ones previously suggested for each componentwere elected. Additionally, 18 actions were identifiedas priority, concrete and immediate, being 14 on aregional scale, and four on a sub regional scale.The actions, in general could be related to morethan one component.

2.2.3 Round table with the financing agentsabout implementation mechanisms

In the beginning of the works of the last dayof meeting, the final document “Priority Subjectsin Biodiversity for Cooperation and Interchangeamong the South American countries with theIdentification of Priority, Concrete and ImmediateActions” was presented. In this occasion, aproposal for the publication of the results andperspectives of the Meeting was presented by theBrazilian representatives and agreed with theparticipants.

After that, began the Round Table“Mechanisms of Support to the Implementation ofInitiatives Related to Biodiversity”, withrepresentatives of Funding Institutions, ImplementingAgencies and Organisms of Technical Cooperation.The Round Table was divided in two sections, withpresentations of 10 minutes for each representativeand about five minutes for questions. They wererequested to present their action lines in whatconcerns environmental and biodiversity issues.

SECTION 1: Mechanisms of Support Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB)

- Arthur Nogueira United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) - Carlos Castro United Nations Environmental Program

(UNEP) - Julio Calderón United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - CelsoSchenkel

World Bank (BIRD) - Douglas J. Grahamand Karin Shepardson

Secretariat of Foreign Subjects (SEAIN),Ministry of Planning, Budget and

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Management of Brazil (MPOG) - CarlosLamperti

The Development Bank (BNDES) - PedroPalmeira

SECTION 2: Regional Initiatives on Biodiversityand Technical Cooperation and Implementationof Projects on Biodiversity

European Union - Thierry Dudermel; Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization

(ACTO) - Francisco Marmolejo Brazilian Agency for Cooperation (ABC/

Mercosul) - Rocia da Silva Oliveira andAna Cristina Cruz Escalera

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) -Eduardo GuerreroInstitut de Recherche pour leDéveloppement (IRD) - Laure EmperaireJapan International Cooperation Agency(JICA) - Daniel Trento do Nascimento andKazuki OtsukaAmazon Bank (BASA) - RosângelaQueiroz da CostaNational Fund for the Environment (FNMA)- Raimunda MonteiroBrazilian Fund for Biodiversity (FUNBIO)- Thadeu Melo

The representatives of the South-Americancountries, for proper initiative, decided to write atthe end of the last day the Declaration of theMeeting of South American Cooperation onBiodiversity - Rio 2003, in which they hadrecognized the effort carried out by the Governmentof Brazil in the execution of the meeting and thenecessity to stregthen the processes of integrationand cooperation within the region. Moreover, thedocument requests that Brazil, in coordination withthe IUCN-Sur, promotes a process of elaboration ofthe Regional Strategy of Biodiversity for the SouthAmerica. The countries also requested to allcooperation institutions, donors and projects ofsupport, that they optimize all the initiatives andefforts to develop the South American Network onBiological Information Interchange, starting toendorse technically and financially the subjects ofcommon interest identified from the components,and the priority subjects and actions defined in themeeting. In order to establish this Network, sixdiscussion groups were formed corresponding tothe six components identified during the meeting.

Each discussion group has a Moderator, except thesixth, and the Brazilian Government will be thegeneral network coordinator. The groups andmoderators are:

1. Biodiversity Knowledge (Moderator -Colombia);

2. Biodiversity Conservation (Moderator -Chile);

3. Sustainable Use of the BiodiversityComponents (Moderator - Ecuador);

4. Evaluation, Prevention and Mitigation ofImpacts on Biodiversity (Moderator -Argentina);

5. Access to Genetic Resources and to theAssociated Traditional Knowledge andBenefit Sharing (Peru);

6. Education, Public Awareness,Socialization, Publicity on BiodiversityInformation.

The CBD Secretariat has prepared arestricted web site for the information exchangeamong the South American countries (https://www.biodiv.org/doc/restricted/cdb). The NationalFocal Points for the information exchange arepresented in the List IV – Annex 1. This initiative willbe the start point of the South American Network onBiodiversity

2.3. Consolidation of the results

After the Meeting, a deadline was establishedfor all the countries representatives to send thefollowing documents: Executive Summary of theNBS, the complete version of the NBSs, List ofBilateral and Regional Agreements, and informationon priority areas for biodiversity conservation andsustainable use, as agreed during the Meetingconcerning the composition of the publication of itsresults. The executive Summaries of the NBSs weretranslated into Spanish, Portuguese and English.

It was also requested to the representativesof the Agencies and Organisms of Cooperation tosent a document (up to 10 pages) with theinformation presented in the Meeting: the agencypolicy, the mechanisms, conditions, addresses/contacts (including web pages), indication of thesubjects and priority actions identified in the Meetingthat are qualified for the agency support. Thedocuments sent were made available in the websiteof the Meeting (www.mma.gov.br/biodiversidade/taller).

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n The Meeting report.

n Identification of the priority, concrete and immediate actions, on regional andsub regional scales to be accomplished in cooperation by the participant countriesof the meeting.

n Indication of the priority subjects on biodiversity for cooperation and interchangeamong the South American countries.

n Declaration of the Meeting of South American Cooperation on Biodiversity - Rio2003 ("Rio Declaration").

n The list of participants of the Meeting.

n Executive summaries of the NBSs of the South American signatory countries ofthe CBD.

n Executive Summary of the Comparative Study of the NBSs of the South Americancountries, done by IUCN - Sur.

n List of the regional and bilateral formal agreements on biodiversity among theSouth American countries.

n Indication of priority geographic areas for biodiversity conservation and sustainableuse nearby the borders.

n Focal Points for the South American Network of Interchange on BiologicalInformation (List V - Annex 1).

n Complete documents of the NBSs of all South American countries.

n Legislation relative to the NBSs.

n Regional Biodiversity Strategy for the Tropic Andean Countries.

n Thematic Document "Conservación de Ecosistemas Transfronterizos y Proteccióny Recuperación de Especies Amenazadas" (Conservation of TransboundaryEcosystems and Protection and Recovery of Threatened Species) in the scopeof the Andean Community.

n Strategy of Conservation of the Province of Salta, Argentina.

n Comparative study of the NBSs of the South American countries, done by IUCN- Sur.

n Information relative to the accomplishment of the Meeting.

n Documents sent by the representatives of the countries, agencies and cooperationorganisms.

n List of participants.

n Methodology used in the Meeting.

Printed

CDRom

Internet*

*www.mma.gov.br/biodiversidade/taller

2.4. Publication and publicity of the results

For publicity of the Meeting results, thefollowing products were accorded:

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3. Results3. Results3. Results3. Results3. Results

3.1 Themes on biodiversity with priority for3.1 Themes on biodiversity with priority for3.1 Themes on biodiversity with priority for3.1 Themes on biodiversity with priority for3.1 Themes on biodiversity with priority forcooperation and interchange among Southcooperation and interchange among Southcooperation and interchange among Southcooperation and interchange among Southcooperation and interchange among SouthAmerican countriesAmerican countriesAmerican countriesAmerican countriesAmerican countries

Nineteen priority themes, divided in sixcomponents, were defined:

Component 1 – Biodiversity Knowledge1.1 Biodiversity inventory and

characterization;1.2 Promotion of ecological researches and

studies on the role played by livingorganisms in ecosystem functionalityand on the impacts of global modificationson biodiversity;

1.3 Systems and Mechanisms (levels andaccess rules) for InformationInterchange.

Component 2 – Biodiversity Conservation2.1 Conservation of ecosystems (protected

areas, ecological corridors and others);2.2 Conservation of species (in situ, in situ

on farm and ex situ);2.3 Economical and financial instruments for

biodiversity conservation.

Component 3 – Sustainable Use of BiodiversityComponents

3.1 Biotechnology and BiosafetyManagement;

3.2 Economical and technologicalinstruments and incentives to thesustainable practices and business forbiodiversity use;

3.3 Valuation of biodiversity components, itsgoods and services.

Component 4 – Evaluation, Prevention andAttenuation of Impacts on Biodiversity

4.1 Monitoring of biodiversity;4.2 Evaluation, prevention and attenuation of

impacts on biodiversity components;4.3 Territorial Ordering as instrument for

prevention;4.4 Strategic Environmental Evaluation of

public policies concerning biodiversity.

Component 5 - Access to Genetic Resourcesand to Associated Traditional Knowledge andBenefits Sharing

5.1 Access to genetic resources and fair andequitable sharing of the benefits arisingfrom genetic resources use;

5.2 Protection of knowledge, innovations andpractices of indigenous people, Afro-American communities and other localcommunities, and fair and equitablesharing of the benefits arising fromtraditional knowledge use associated tobiodiversity;

5.3 To promote the creation and/or thestrengthening of capacities in innovation,science and biodiversity technology.

Component 6 - Education, Public Awareness,Socialization and Publicity of Biodiversity Infor-mation

6.1 Socialization of information and publicawareness;

6.2 Incorporation of themes relative toconservation and to biodiversitysustainable use on formal and not formaleducation;

6.3 Diffusion, presentation of interests andopportunity of South AmericanBiodiversity in/to the world.

3.2 Identification of Priority, Concrete andImmediate actions

Eighteen actions, divided into regional andsub regional, were proposed. The components andpriority themes to which the actions are referred areidentified in brackets.

3.2.1 Actions on a regional scale

Transversal1. Define interlocutors and electronic forum to

continue this initiative. (1.3, 6.1 and 6.3)2. Elaborate a regional strategy to consolidate the

CHM among South American countries asa tool to permit the information andtechnology interchange. (1.3 and 6)

3. Develop strategic alliances in coordination withcooperation agencies and technicalassistance. (Transversal)

4. Develop the action plans of NationalBiodiversity Strategies (NBSs) and

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Regional Biodiversity Strategies (RBSs)through the interchange and cooperationamong the countries. (Transversal)

5. Design of a financial and technologicalmechanism that aims the strengtheningof the execution of NBSs and RBSs actionplans. (Transversal)

Thematic1. Elaborate a South American Strategy for

wetlands - RAMSAR (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6).2. Cooperation for the prevention and control

of invasive exotic species (to develop astrategic plan for control of the goldenmussel - Limnoperna fortunei). (2, 4.1 and4.2)

3. Interchange of information and experienceon Bio-commerce. (1.3, 3.2 and 3.3)

4. Create a governmental network forinformation interchange amongenvironment authorities responsible for themanagement of the access to the geneticresources and associated traditionalknowledge. (1.3, 5.1 and 5.2)

5. Develop regional and sub regionalnetworks of protected areas (borderingareas and ecological corridors). (2)

6. Regional level Project for the strengtheningof protected areas national systems,bordering areas and ecological corridors.(2)

7. Consolidate an information system to unitespecies and biological referencecollections databases in South America.(1.3)

8. Develop an indicator system at regionaland sub regional levels for monitoring

biodiversity sustainable use. (4.1 and 4.2)

3.2.2 Actions on a sub regional scale1. Management of High Andean Wetlands.

(Transversal)2. Consolidate a process for an Amazonian

Regional Biodiversity Strategy, in the ambitof ACTO. (Transversal)

3. Development of the Multiregional and/orNational Project of the Inca Path. (2)

4. Consolidation of the Sub regional Programof the American Gran Chaco(PASCHACO). (Transversal)

3.2.3 Criteria for definition of priority actions:1. Panamá Declaration of the Forum of

Ministers of the Environment of LatinAmerica and the Caribbean Region.

2. Combine initiatives of regional and subregional character.

3. Consolidate the NBSs and the RBSs.

3.3 Declaration of the Meeting for SouthAmerican Cooperation on Biodiversity - RIO2003

For proper initiative, the participant countriesof the meeting had elaborated a letter, where theyhad firmed intentions of accomplishing a series ofaction in cooperation. One of these actions,considered of great importance, it is the creation ofthe South American Network in Biodiversity that willfunction as the South American Clearing HouseMechanism (CHM). The countries had alreadyindicated the focal points of this Network (Annex I -List V). This declaration is transcribed below.

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4

The representatives of the South American Countries joined at Rio de Janeiro, recognizingthe effort made by the Brazilian Government on the accomplishment of the meeting thataims to identify common interest themes for our countries, and considering the necessityto strengthen the integration and cooperation processes in the region, accord:

1. Request to all cooperative institutions, donors and support projects, that the UNEPRegional Office, in coordination with the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat(CBD), the CHM and Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) FocalPoints, optimize all the initiatives and efforts to develop the Biological InformationInterchange Network for South America; for this, we propose the elaboration of a websiteto be a meeting point and a mechanism for interchanging information on biodiversity, inparticular concerning the priority themes pointed during this meeting. This initiative willbe the start point of the South American Network on Biodiversity.

2. Request Brazil to promote, in coordination with IUCN-Sur , an elaboration process ofthe Biodiversity Regional Strategy for South America, through the diffusion and evaluationof the National Biodiversity Strategies, as well as of the Andean Strategy and othersub-regional initiatives . A proposal for the formulation of this Regional Strategy will bepresented for analysis by the Ministers for the Environment of South American countrieswithin the mark of Ministers of the Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean,which will take place at Venezuela. This Regional Strategy will function as a cooperationmark on biodiversity among our countries.

3. Invite the South American representatives to get together at least once at Kuala Lampur,during the next COP 7 of the CBD, in order to coordinate the positions of the SouthAmerican Region.

4. Request that the Funding Institutions, the Implementing Agencies and Organisms forTechnical Cooperation, participants of the meeting, make an effort to support technicallyand financially the common interest themes identified from the priority components,themes and goals defined in the aforementioned meeting.

5. Express our acknowledgment to the Government and people from Brazil for the invitationand accomplishment of this South American meeting for cooperation and interchangeon biodiversity.