The expansion of human capacity to conserve biodiversity, to manage its use, and to address threats to it. This strategy has three main components: a) increasing public appreciation and awareness of the value and importance of biodiversity, and public involvement in its conservation and sustainable use; b) improving the understanding of biodiversity through conducting research, improving biological inventories, establishing and maintaining monitoring systems, sharing information, and incorporating traditional knowledge, and; c) strengthening existing management capacity through appropriate training.
Human resource development and training is required for biodiversity management. Training should be done in partnership with educational institutions, the private sector and non-governmental organisations, and be provided in formal institutions, at the workplace through in-service training programmes, and at a local level. Training is recognised as important not only for those charged with managing the use of natural resources, but for senior decision- makers, industrialists, and local communities.
Encourage a review and reorientation of the curricula of existing training programmes concerning biodiversity conservation and human interactions with the natural environment, with particular emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches. Support the development of short-term training courses in biodiversity management tailored to the needs of particular groups such as business, communities, teachers, resource managers, non-governmental organisations, and senior decision-makers. Prevent the loss of skilled expertise from the field of biodiversity management, maintain existing skills and expertise, and improve the capacity of public servants, non-governmental organisations, and communities to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity. Develop strategies to improve training and professional development in careers compatible with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends continuing to build capacity for the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of biological resources in all relevant sectors.
The Sofia Biodiversity Initiative (SBI) is led by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning of Slovenia, The main working principles of the SBI are: (a) use of existing experience and capacities in the region; (b) avoiding overlapping between various activities run by different organisations, authorities, governments and other groups; and (c) use of experience in different fields (financing, public participation, integration into different socio-economic sectors, land use planning, etc.) within the Environmental Action Programme. The initiative is run by the Joint Biodiversity Secretariat of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN). It is planned mainly through exchange of experience between the 15 CEECs, involving NGOs, developing and implementing biodiversity policies, as well as capacity building at national and local level.