The Monaco Assessment on Biodiversity in Antarctica - Implementation programme

Ms Isabelle Rosabrunetto, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, opens the meeting © Government Communication Department / Charly Gallo

From 3 to 5 July 2017, Monaco is hosting a scientific meeting organised by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Prince’s Government, Monaco Scientific Centre (CSM) and Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).

In her opening remarks, Ms Isabelle Rosabrunetto, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, recalled that since 2015 the international community has adopted some major resolutions which will certainly help preservation efforts in the Antarctic region (Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals; the Paris Agreement) and has commissioned an IPCC report on the oceans and the cryosphere.

The purpose of this meeting, which brings together 22 international experts from the legal, scientific, ecology, conservation and ecosystem management fields, is to identify strategies and achievable action plans which could be implemented between now and 2020 in order to strengthen conservation and biodiversity protection efforts in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions.

It follows on from the first workshop entitled ‘Antarctica and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020: The Monaco Assessment’ held in June 2015 in Monaco. The results of this workshop were published in the international journal PLoS Biology (http://www.centrescientifique.mc/fr/actualites/297-Publication-scientifique-en-Biologie-Polaire.html , French only).