Stakeholders held a reflection meeting in Yaounde on Wednesday September 8, 2010 to harmonise their action ahead of the confab billed for next month.

Preparations have heightened in Cameroon ahead of the 10^th conference of the party to the convention on biodiversity and the 5^th meeting of parties of the Cartegena Protocol on Biodiversity billed for Nagoya, Japan, next month. A sensitisation and reflection meeting grouping all actors in the biodiversity sector in the country held in Yaounde on Wednesday September 8, 2010 to seek ways of harmonising their actions so as to constitute a bloc with a common vision during the confab.

The meeting, the Minister of Environment and Nature Protection, Pierre Hele, who presided at the deliberations, said was to inform and sensitise national stakeholders and the public on the stakes of the 10^th conference of the parties to the convention on biodiversity. It was also to develop Cameroon’s position on priorities for a convention of post 2010 biological diversity strategic plan as well as to build understanding on Cameroon’s priorities for international regimes and institutional frameworks to give effect to biodiversity convention. Expected results, Mr Hele said, was to come up with a position on thematic issues for decision by Cameroon’s flagbearers at the Japan meeting as well as constitute an engaged group of national stakeholders to ease the restitution and implementation of post Nagoya decisions.

According to Prudence Galega, Technical Adviser No.1 in the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection, the stakes of the upcoming Japan meeting are high especially for Cameroon as a signatory to the biodiversity convention coupled with efforts deployed in the country to preserve biodiversity for the development of the economy. “Our expectation is that at term we will adopt a new strategic plan for the convention for the next 10 years, she said. “Cameroon’s priorities within this strategic plan put us in a very important position in terms of the fact that Cameroon is one of the countries with a very rich biodiversity and natural resources that constitute an attraction to the global community. We are going to put a plan or maybe an international regime that would enable us ensure that the benefits that are reaped from accessing these resources are shared in a fair and equitable manner such that Cameroonians and the local communities can benefit from the exploitation of these resources”, Mrs Galega reiterated.