Institute of Biodiversity Conservation

[ December 1, 2009; ] The theme for World AIDS Day 2009 is ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’. Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, recognising these as fundamental human rights. Valuable progress has been made in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services, yet greater commitment is needed around the world if the goal of universal access is to be achieved. Millions of people continue to be infected with HIV every year. In low- and middle-income countries, less than half of those in need of antiretroviral therapy are receiving it, and too many do not have access to adequate care services.

[ November 25, 2009; ] By resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999, the General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organizations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on that day. Women’s activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

Ethiopia is one of the Vavilovian centers of origin/diversity for many cultivated and wild species of crops including sorghum. It is an economically, socially and culturally important crop grown over a wide range of ecological habitats in the country, in the range of 400-3000 masl. It is an important crop for the south and central parts of Tigray Region of Ethiopia.

To assess the level of sorghum diversity, two zones, namely South and Central Tigray were selected and eighteen villages in three woredas, Alamata, Raya-Azebo and Tanqua-Abergelle, were surveyed. A total of 93 randomly selected farmers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire that elicited information on socioeconomic aspects of households, sorghum plots, the number and types of farmers’ local varieties grown in the area, variety characteristics, seed exchange systems and seed flow together with selection criteria’s as well as seed selection process and management.

10 November 2009 – As a year-long campaign to safeguard the world’s biological diversity gets underway, Secretary-General called on countries and people all over the planet to engage in a global alliance to protect life on Earth.

The General Assembly proclaimed 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity to raise awareness of the unprecedented loss of species – at a rate that some experts estimate to be 1,000 times the natural progression – as a result of human activities.

In accordance with Article 26 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Decision VIII/14 of the Conference of Parties (COP), the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC), together with other stakeholders has prepared Ethiopia’s Fourth National Report on the Implementation of the CBD in Ethiopia. The report has been prepared according to the guidelines for the 4th national report and contains five parts:

a) Status of, trends in and threats to biodiversity;
b) The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) implementation;
c) Biodiversity integration into other sectors or Mainstreaming Biodiversity;
d) Progress towards the 2010 targets and implementation of the Strategic Plan; and
e) The Strategic Plan of the Convention, and Appendices.

ምንም እንኳን 6.3 ቢሊዮን ከሚሆነው የዓለም ህዝብ አነስተኛውን ቁጥር ቢይዙም፣ ነባር ማህበረሰቦች ከፍተኛውን የቋንቋና የባህል ተለያይነት የያዙ ሲሆን በነርሱ ሥር እየተጠበቁ ያሉት ባህላዊ ቦታዎችና የውሀ አካላትም ከፍተኛውን የብዝሀ ሕይወት ሀብት ይይዛሉ።

የነባር ማህበረሰቦችን እውቅት በመጠቀም የብዝሀ ሕይወት ሀብት እየተጠበቀ ከመሆኑም ባሻገር ሀብቱ በሂደት እየጨመረ በመሄድ ላይ ይገኛል። ስለሆነም የማህበረሰቦችን እውቀት በመጠቀም የብዝሀ ሕይወት ሀብቱንና የዘረመል ተለያይነቱን በተሻለ ሁኔታ መንከባከብና መጠበቅ ይቻላል።

እ.ኤ.አ በኖቬምበር 2፣ 2009 ከ300 በላይ የሚሆኑ ተሳታፊዎች ካናዳ (ሞንቲሪያል) በሚገኘው የበብዝህ ሕይወት ዓለም አቀፍ ስምምነት ፅ/ቤት በመገኘት የማህበረሰቦች እውቀት የሚጠበቅበትንና የሚበረታታበትን ብሎም ይህ እውቅት ለብዝሀ ሕይወት ሀብት መጠበቅ የሚውልበትን ሁኔታ ይወያያሉ። በተለይም በአርክቦትና ጥቅም ተጋሪነት ሥራዓት ዓለም አቀፍ ድርድሮች ላይ የማህበረሰቦች እውቀት ተገቢውን ቦታ የሚያገኝበትን ፣ በጄነቲክ ሀብት ዝውውርና አጠቃቀም ጊዜ የማህበረሰቦች ይሁንታ እንዲጠየቅ የሚመቻችበትን ብሎም ከብዝሀ ሕይውት ሀብት ጋር ተያያዥ ከሆነው ነባር እውቀት የሚገኘውን ጥቅም የእውቀቱ ባለቤት የሆኑት ማህበረሰቦች በአግባቡ የሚካፈሉበትን ሁኔታ ይነጋገራሉ።