Sweden and the Convention onBiological Diversity : Summary of Sweden’s third National Report to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

• Sweden ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1993, andhas on three occasions reported on the national status of implementation ofthe convention. The third National Report was submitted in 2005. It wasprepared by the Swedish Biodiversity Centre and finalised by the SwedishEnvironmental Protection Agency, after wide consultations with national andlocal authorities, non-governmental organisations and the scientific community. The present publication aims to summarise Sweden’s third NationalReport and to make its main findings accessible to a wide audience, includingthose involved in the consultation as well as the general public. The preparation of the summary has involved those same actors that produced the reportitself. The Swedish Parliament has decided to integrate its biodiversity strategiesand action plans into the framework of the 16 environmental quality objectives, which were adopted in 1999 and revised most lately in 2005. TheNational Report gives an overview of how the content of the 16 objectivescorresponds to the articles and work programmes of the CBD. One mainfinding is that the Swedish environmental quality objectives cover most of thenational aspects of the CBD, while the international aspects and obligationsare treated in other, more specific policy documents.The main messages of the report are summarised in Figure 3, where thearticles of the CBD are ranked according to how severe obstacles their implementation faces in Sweden. The degree of implementation of the decisionstaken by the Conference of the Parties on the different articles is tentativelysummarised on a scale ranging from 1 (crucial deficiencies) to 3 (no seriousdeficiencies). In summary, some articles (5, 6, 12, 17 and 20) were found tobe satisfactorily implemented, while others (Articles 8(h) and 15) were foundto have crucial deficiencies in their degree of implementation. Lack of mainstreaming of biodiversity into other sectors, as well as conflicts of interest,were found to be prominent obstacles preventing the full implementation ofthese articles. In some cases (such as for Articles 10, 11 and 14) the implementation of decisions has come a long way in spite of difficult obstacles. Inother cases (most notably Articles 13 and 18) it appeared that no obstaclescould be identified that could explain their lack of full implementation. Thereport did not, however, analyse these cases in any depth.During the preparation of the report, many consultees reported their frustration with the language of the questionnaire, as well as with the large number of partly overlapping questions. The fact that most actors and stakeholders were unfamiliar with the language and decisions of the Conference of theParties to the CBD made it clear that Sweden’s ambitions in the global political process to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity have not beenwell enough communicated within the country itself.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

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