Alongside other members of the CBD Alliance at the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Harry Jonas (Natural Justice) chaired a press conference on October 25 to present the first Dodo Award to Canada and the European Union “for demonstrating a definitive and unmatched failure to evolve”. Named after the dodo bird, the quintessential symbol of biodiversity loss, the CBD Alliance presented the award to these two Parties for obstructing and delaying processes “that aim to serve the greater good, for failing to evolve, and for simply behaving badly”. Canada and the EU have been particularly obstructive in negotiations towards an international protocol on access and benefit sharing (ABS), with Canada being the only Party insisting upon the removal of any reference to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (see posting from a related press conference here). Runners-up for the Dodo Award were China (for weakening the CBD Strategic Plan) and Brazil (for recklessly promoting biofuels). The CBD Alliance also recognized Parties that are playing a positive role in the negotiations, particularly Norway (on geo-engineering), Bolivia (on financial resources), and the Philippines (for their constant attention to biofuels, synthetic biology, financial resources and agricultural biodiversity).
