Meeting on implementation of Agenda 21

This publication contains the proceedings and the final report of the Conference on Biological Diversity, its Conservation and Sustainable Use in the Arab World", which was held in Bahrain from the 12-14 December 1995. The final report consists of the summary of all the presentations delivered at the Conference. At the end of the Conference, a set of recommendations and a proposed action plan to preserve the biological diversity in the region was adopted. These recommendations arc included in the final report. The proceeding consists of the full text of 7 technical presentations delivered at the conference. All in all, these presentations covered the research activities as well as action taken by regional and international organizations to preserve and conserve the biological diversity of the region.

The objective of the workshop was to review the current state of knowledge on the environmental impacts of structural adjustment programmes (SAPS), with the objective of indicating specific practical improvements in the design and implementation of ongoing economic reform activities, and identifying priorities for future work to enhance their effectiveness. The main messages of the workshop for (a) international financial institutions is to incorporate social and environmental objectives in the design of SAPS explicitly; (b) governments implementing SAPS to enforce and implement economic, social and environmental measures fully and effectively; (c) donors to coordinate policies and aid programmes and make them consistent with the economic, social and environmental objectives of the country; (d) NGOs and other stakeholders work closely with governments to take into account environmental social and cultural considerations and, finally, (e) academicians and researchers to adopt methodologies to help design better SAPS and ensure convincing evaluations.

Accordingly, the United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1992 identified as a priority the need for the conservation of biological diversity. The Action Plan on Programme Development and Priorities adopted in 1973 at the first session of UNEP's Governing Council (GC), identified the "conservation of nature, wildlife and genetic resources" as a priority area. Since then, the conservation of biological diversity constitutes one of the main activities undertaken by UNEP