Global Action for Biodiversity

At the Rio Summit in 1992, the nations of the world adopted the Global Biological Diversity Convention, and 120 countries have since ratified it. At present, however, the convention acts as a framework only, with little in the way of binding language or substantive obligations. The time has come for the international community to develop the institutions and obligations which will give real effect to the aspirations of the convention, and to ensure that the lofty language of the text has some real effect at ground level. This book describes the nature of the issues now before the international community, the gaps in the Convention which remain to be filled, and the ways in which the international community can reach agreement on those gaps. Tim Swanson begins with an overview of the issues. He then develops the basic nature of the problems within a bio-economic framework, presenting the decline of diversity as the result of the development process and its management within the same context. The second part of the book describes the nature of the solutions required to address the problems, and the ways in which they can be adapted within the framework of the convention, with detailed explanations of the concepts involved. The biodiversity convention represents an unprecedented opportunity for the development of institutions and policies which will help foster an alternative path to development. It is an opportunity which should not be wasted

Timothy Swanson is a lecturer in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Biodiversity Programme at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University College London.