28/04/2010 Session
As a contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity, the Presidents of PACE, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Council of Europe’s Conference of INGOs today signed a declaration on “working together for biodiversity, the protection of natural areas and the fight against climate change.” PACE President Mevlüt Cavusoglu expressed hope that this day would “represent a milestone in our efforts to presever biodiversity in Europe”.
“We need to mobilise the necessary political will to preserve biodiversity at all levels. As parliamentarians, we have the power to do this by legislative means. We have to use this power both here, in Strasbourg, and in our national parliaments,” he stressed. “The primary concern of the campaign is to make this issue more familiar, to ensure that citizens understand the potential consequences of its loss and that make them aware that they can do something, even at individual level, to stop the decline,” he added. On Friday 30 April PACE will hold a debate on biodiversity and climate change.