Australia's biodiversity

Newsletter on biological diversity conservation actions

Biolinks No. 2
Biodiversity Section
Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment and Territories - December 1991
ISSN 1037 4434

Conservation of biological diversity: We have a part to play

"We all have an important part to play in creating this new [world] order. It is essential to acknowledge responsibility for the actions which produce environmental degradation ... since they all have consequences which we must and can avoid, to the best of our ability.

...we must keep in mind the new general global framework in which the negotiations are taking place, be clear that the conservation and rational use of biodiversity is the responsibility of all and that solidarity among peoples inevitably benefits everyone."

– Ambassador Vincent Sanchez, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Convention Biological Diversity.

Biological diversity in our native forests: interrelationships between plants, fungi and mammals.

Andrew W. Claridge

The productivity of our native eucalypt forests is dependent upon a number of factors. Paramount is the maintenance of biological diversity and the continued interaction of components of the forest flora and fauna. For me, this point is no better expressed than by the example of the interrelationship among plants, fungi and mammals.

Many forest fungi form intimate symbiotic associations with the roots of a variety of shrubs and trees. This association is termed a mycorrhiza, which means 'fungus-root'. Within some mycorrhizal relationships the fungus ensheaths the host root system and is responsible, among other things, for the uptake of nutrients and water from the soil. In return, the host plant donates carbohydrates necessary for the fungus to continue functioning and to form reproductive fruiting bodies laden with spores. Research undertaken both overseas and in Australia suggests that the prime habitat requirement for many mycorrhizal fungi is an adequate organic matter layer on the forest floor. This layer is largely provided by decaying logs, branches and other debris from fallen trees.

Many mycorrhizal fungi have an underground-fruiting (hypogeal) habit, which limits the ways in which spore dispersal may be achieved. Unlike their above-ground relatives, hypogeal fungi cannot usually disperse via water and wind currents. Instead, most hypogeal fungi rely on their fruiting bodies being dug up from the soil, eaten and dispersed by a variety of fungus-feeding animals.

In south-eastern mainland Australia, the most specialized of these fungus-feeders are small marsupial rat-kangaroos called potoroos. At all times of the year, potoroos actively seek the fruiting bodies of at least 40 species of hypogeal fungi. Spores, present in the fungal tissue consumed by the potoroo, pass through the gut apparently unscathed, are concentrated in the faeces and deposited back to the forest floor by the animal at another location. In this way new mycorrhizal associations or additions to old ones are made. Other small forest mammals including bandicoots and rats also serve as dispersal agents.

Fungus-feeding mammals as essential components of regenerating native forests

Increasing scientific evidence suggests that fungus-feeding mammals such as potoroos play a vital role in the re-establishment of mycorrhizal fungal populations after forest disturbances such as fire and logging. Where the forest ecosystem is disturbed many of these fungi may initially be deleteriously affected. However, the fruiting bodies of some mycorrhizal fungi apparently survive the disturbance; it is these fungi that the potoroo may depend upon as a food source immediately after habitat disturbance. In turn, by consuming the fruiting bodies of these fungi, and dispersing their spores, the potoroo helps to re-establish the fungal-root association essential to the regeneration capacity of new seedlings, and hence the regenerating forest.

In the short-term the regenerating forest may not provide sufficient food and shelter for potoroos, and they may be forced to find suitable habitat elsewhere. During these early stages of forest succession other ground-dwelling mammals including bush rats and marsupial mice may proliferate. Later, when the vegetation ground cover is restored the potoroo will reinvade the regenerating forest, presumably bringing other suites of fungi from the undisturbed habitat within its gut and faecal pellets. It is probably in this way that the process of mycorrhizal fungal succession in forests is achieved. Until the forest is disturbed again the potoroo will remain, provided the fungal resource remains abundant, thus playing a role in the dispersal of fungal spores within a more confined area.

Other links in the forest chain

The interrelationship between forests plants, fungi and fungus-feeding mammals is not a simple tripartite association. A myriad of other organisms, mainly soil and plant-dwelling microbes such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria, also help to form the basic building blocks of the forest. Additionally, plants play a role in providing materials for the build-up of the organic litter layer, which in turn is broken down by a series of decomposer fungi and invertebrates. Together, these above- and below-ground biota interact to provide a suitably diverse set of microhabitats for an equally diverse array of symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi. The consumption of these fungi by potoroos and other fungus-feeders ensures that a diversity of fungal spores is distributed throughout the forest. Furthermore, because different species of mycorrhizal fungi fruit at different stages of the year, the resultant patterns of spore dispersal may be quite complex. The process of mycorrhizal spore dispersal in our native forests serves as an important example of why we should be trying to maintain all aspects of biological diversity. The many organisms involved both directly and indirectly in this process are all vital to the functioning of a forest ecosystem. The implications of this research for forest management will need to be carefully assessed.

Andrew Claridge is a Wildlife Biologist currently undertaking a Postgraduate Research Project at the Department of Forestry, Australian National University, Canberra.

Discovering new biological resources - Chance or reason?

Andrew J. Beattie

"All we have yet discovered is but a trifle in comparison of what still lies hid in the great treasury of Nature" – Antoni van Leewenhoek 1680.

One argument for the conservation of biodiversity is that almost any species can turn out to be useful. However, the identification of new biological resources has been considered too uncertain to assign anything but 'serendipity value' to those species for which a use has not yet been found.

A concerted effort to identify useful species has been made by pharmaceutical companies searching for new drugs. This involves massive screening programs in the hope that something of commercial value emerges. The probability of success is low.

Better use of the biological sciences can significantly increase the probability of success. In fact, the exploration for, and discovery of, new bioresources should become a challenging biological discipline in its own right.

Antibiotics from ants

Because we share the environment of Earth with millions of species, we have many problems in common. Problems solved by other species over millions of years of natural selection may provide, or point to, solutions of use to us. We have, as yet, only scratched the surface of what is available.

The possibilities of this approach can be illustrated by looking at the problem of finding new antibiotics. Screening more microorganisms is one approach. However, biology offers at least one other approach: antibiotic substances are also likely to have evolved among those organisms where contagion is a major selection pressure. We need to concentrate on those organisms which, like us, are highly adapted, even obliged, to live in organised societies with many individuals in close proximity and where the danger of contagious disease is great.

The search narrows down to groups such as the social Hymenoptera which presents an array of different societies. Those which exhibit the least genetic variation may provide a focus as genetic invariance increases the problem of contagion. We find that honeybees and ants produce antibiotic secretions. In my laboratory, this kind of reasoning based on ant natural history has been the foundation of a project to investigate ant antibiotics. The claim that ants are bioresources has been taken seriously by both the Australian government and the Swiss pharmaceutical company Ciba-Geigy who fund the research.

It is also of interest that ant natural history has prompted funded research into various species for new termiticides, the biological control of forest insect pests, cybernetic models and weed control in row crops.

Bio-rational deduction

Hierarchical deductions that narrow the field of exploration to focus on potential solutions are not new. Preliterate societies of all kinds have used it to track down species and natural products for food, medicines, fibres and many other necessities. Collaboration between indigenous peoples, ethnobotanists and biological anthropologists has identified a host of new biological resources from regions as far apart as northern Australia and Amazonia.

The information upon which these deductions are made often comes from some of the more neglected biological sciences, especially natural history. In many of the following examples it is evolutionary and ecological data on survivorship, mortality, fecundity, life history characteristics, habitat preferences, enemies, interactions and biogeography that are frequently the most important. Moreover, it will be seen that there is no species, behaviour or habitat too obscure to be of potential use.

The commercial application of natural history data has been successful in the identification of biological control agents. Researchers successively focus on the appropriate biogeographic region, habitat, interaction, species, life stage and even tissue. Intense study of the natural history of selected species identifies those that are most promising. However, much more is possible. For example, when the human problem is to kill selected insects in large numbers, researchers have asked what other organisms do this and have identified, among others, several wasp families that are both effective and selective because of their parasitoid life histories. However, it is only recently that researchers have broadened their horizons by examining other groups of insect killers and have identified spiders, mites and scorpions as promising candidates. These predators collectively present a wide array of venoms and many specialise on particular prey. Those that prey on pest insects may produce specialist venoms from which selective pesticides can be derived.

Biomonitoring is another recent example of effective bio-rational deduction. Various kinds of organisms sample these media in the pursuit of food. Aquatic filter feeders, earthworms and honeybees have been investigated as replacements for expensive instrumentation to monitor water, soil and air pollution respectively. The invertebrate groups they come from harbour a vast unexplored treasury of potentially useful species, tissues or products that reflect the state of the environment in which they live.

Future applications

A very important area where bio-rational deduction will be of use is in the screening of plant secondary compounds for useful chemicals. Having asked the precise purpose of the required molecule, the process of locating it is best begun at the natural history end of the problem. For example, in the search for more effective, more selective insecticides we start by asking what particular kind of insect is the target. In the case of a herbivorous pest we ask which wild plant species are attacked by these insects and are likely to have evolved a defence against them? Natural historians with various specialities tell us where the insects occur and what are their habitat and food plant preferences.

The following are examples of bio-rational approaches and the actual or potential products they have identified:

With these and a host of other examples available for investigation it is salutary to recall that less than 50% of all species on Earth are yet known. The known species have provided all the biological resources that have made human development and civilization possible. There is a clear relationship between the conservation of biodiversity and the discovery of new bioresources.

Andrew Beattie is Professor and Head of the School of Biological Sciences, and Director of the Research Unit for Biodiversity and Bioresources, Macquarie University.

Australia's reptile biodiversity

Hal Cogger

In global biodiversity terms, with nearly 750 species of reptiles belonging to 17 of the world's 45-odd families, Australia has one of the richest reptile faunas in the world. But it's not just the number of species that makes Australia rich in reptiles. Rather, it is our high proportion of 'endemic' species – species found nowhere else in the world; 85% of Australia's reptiles are endemic.

Much of the current biodiversity debate centres on the loss of the world's equatorial rainforests – the forests which contain the most diverse faunas and floras in the world. The debate in Australia has also concentrated on our rainforests, particularly on our 'wet tropics'. But it's important to remember that Australia is a dry continent, and that rainforests, even before 20% of them were cleared for agriculture and grazing, occupied only 0.5% of Australia. Consequently most of Australia's flora and fauna, including its reptiles, is found outside our tropical rainforests, where it has evolved and adapted to conditions ranging from alpine meadows and isolated rocky islands to the vast spinifex grasslands of the red centre

Current work on the biodiversity of Australia's reptiles revolves around three major issues: their number, origins and evolutionary relationships; their distribution; and their ecology. Knowledge of all of these is essential not just for any effective conservation effort, but also in planning any sustainable use of economically important species such as crocodiles, sea turtles and sea snakes.

There's a widely held view, even among biologists, that Australia's reptiles are all more or less known and described to science. However in the past 15 years the number of species recognised from Australia has grown from 530 to 750, an increase in the size of our reptile fauna of 40%! This was not serendipitous, but the result of sustained effort on the part of taxonomists and field ecologists, especially those working in the more remote parts of Australia. This peak of new knowledge arises in large part from the opening up of northern and northwestern Australia to development and tourism. It mirrors a similar peak in the first half of the l9th century, when the 'natural products' of England's new colony were finding their way back to the museums and universities of Europe, and exciting the interest of scientists there because of their uniqueness. However today's knowledge of our reptile fauna is aided by new techniques in research which allow us to determine genetic relationships and to recognise species which are externally indistinguishable.

Many developments and rural industries such as grazing can be managed to ensure the survival of a lot of regional biodiversity, but others are simply incompatible. For example, the clearing of mallee for wheat eliminates – actually kills – more than 85% of the reptiles living there; on average, more than 200 individual reptiles/hectare. With a large proportion of Australia's mallee lands already cleared, setting aside a network of mallee reserves of adequate size and quality must be given high priority if the rich mallee reptile fauna of Australia is to be conserved. Clearly, the same arguments apply to other groups of mallee animals and plants, and to other threatened habitats.

In planning to conserve reptilian biodiversity, it is important to recognise and understand how different groups of reptiles are more richly represented in some parts of Australia than they are in others, and that conservation efforts should be directed at whole communities rather than at individual species.

Scincid lizards are the largest family of reptiles in Australia and include many of the lizards we see in urban and coastal areas of Australia. They include the small garden and fence skinks which thrive in urban areas, and the larger blue-tongued and shingle- backed lizards which bask on both urban and rural roads. The scincid lizards are concentrated in a number of 'centres of high species diversity' in Australia. These represent centres where particular subgroups of, say, forest or desert skinks have evolved.

Australia is not only home to the greatest variety of skinks in the world, but also to the greatest variety of fixed-fang venomous snakes. This group, which includes the cobras, mambas, kraits and American coral snakes, constitutes about 60% of Australia's land snake fauna, a higher proportion of venomous snakes than in any other continent. It's the group to which our tiger snakes, brown snakes, death adders and taipans belong, though most Australian members of the group are small and not generally regarded as dangerous to humans. The centres of high species diversity in these snakes share some common patterns with the skinks. We can build up a picture of those areas of especially high biodiversity value for many different groups of organisms.

The need for research has not declined. Dozens of species are known from only one or a handful of specimens from widely-scattered localities. Nothing is known about the ecology of the majority of species.

The more recent history of the study of Australia's rich reptile fauna is studded with remarkable discoveries and rediscoveries. For example, one of Australia's largest pythons – the Oenpelli Python from the western escarpment of Arnhem Land, and which grows to 3.5 metres in length – though well-known to local Aboriginal communities for millennia, was first described to science in only 1977! Similarly, the Rough-scaled Carpet Python from the Kimberleys, which grows to 2 metres, was first described in only 1981 and is still known from only 3 or 4 specimens.

We have a long way to go before we know enough about the kinds and habitats of our native reptiles to conserve them effectively, and that we have much to learn from Aboriginal peoples whose knowledge of their local faunas and floras is far more extensive than is generally recognised.

There are many threats to Australia's reptiles, including not only loss of habitat but also those from introduced predators and competitors. Consequently research on our reptiles, as with other native plants and animals, has to go hand in hand with research on the organisms and processes which threaten them.

Dr Hal Cogger is Deputy Director of the Australian Museum.

Canberra conference highlights biological collections

Liz Tynan

It is not possible to conserve biological diversity unless we understand the taxonomic and evolutionary relationships among the species we are trying to conserve – Richard Vane-Wright.

On 11 and 12 November, 1991, the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Institute of Biology jointly sponsored a symposium called 'Australia's Biota and the National Interest – The Role of Biological Collections', which was held in Canberra.

The theme of the meeting was the need for increased knowledge of our biota, and recognition of the central role that the national biological collections play in the research required to obtain and store that knowledge.The symposium was officially opened by Minister for the Environment, Mrs Ros Kelly. Mrs Kelly stressed the importance of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) to the Government's policies, saying it was not just a guideline in determining future policies, it was the lynchpin.

'The environmental debate is no passing fashion, but is an integral part of Australia's economic transformation,' she said. 'Enlightened elements in business have joined the movement. ESD is a joint quest, not a war between interest groups'. 'There is a sense of irrevocable loss with the passing of species, and this was a very human emotion which could be depicted as 'melancholy', she said. 'There are now all the preconditions for an epidemic of melancholy'. The speakers that followed examined the ways in which taxonomists and their collections of specimens could help to reduce the severity of this epidemic.

Dr Peter Raven, Director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, USA, and an outspoken advocate of preservation of biodiversity, was the first speaker. He reminded the meeting that any threat to Australia's biodiversity is a threat to the whole world's biological heritage. Australia's geographic isolation has led to the evolution of a remarkable number of endemic species.

He urged Australia's scientists and politicians to ensure that loss of biodiversity was clearly seen as a crisis as severe as ozone depletion or global warning, and that far reaching policies be formulated now to halt the destruction of the environment upon which we all depend.

Dr Richard Vane-Wright of the Natural History Museum, London, outlined the link between taxonomy and conservation. He argued that it is not possible to conserve biological diversity unless we understand the taxonomic and evolutionary relationships among the species we are trying to conserve. Appropriate action to conserve natural resources was dependent upon the high quality of systematic collections and the research and applications that flowed from them, he said

The major thrust of the workshop proposals was: formal recognition by government of the necessity of biological collections and taxonomy; acknowledgement of the contributions and potential contributions of existing organisations such as the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) and the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN); assessment of costs involved in improving staffing levels; improved co-ordination of Australian biological collections; establishment of a competitive facilities grant scheme to provide funding for the maintenance of collections; and targeted funding for training of taxonomists and systematists to reverse the apparent decline in this area.

The proceedings of the Symposium will be published in full in the March 1992 edition of the Australian Institute of Biology's journal Australian Biologist.

Liz Tynan, CSIRO Division of Entomology.

Conservation of biological diversity in Queensland

Paul Satler, Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service.

In Queensland, the national parks estate is currently being doubled by the addition of nearly four million hectares of land. This expansion is based upon securing maximum representation of biological diversity across the 13 biogeographic regions of the state.

Resource assessment surveys for a number of biogeographic regions are underway to systematically define the key sites that would maximise the capture of the inherent diversity of each region. Approximately 64% of the state's major plant communities are currently represented in the park estate.

Major aquisitions are under way to consolidate the representation of biodiversity, particularly in the semi-arid and arid lands that are often the most vulnerable to degradation or where conservation efforts have been limited in the past. These new parks also include the fertile grazing lands of the state to ensure a comprehensive sampling of biodiversity.

The other major initiative underway is the introduction of new nature conservation legislation. This draft legislation comprehensively defines biodiversity at a genetic, species, ecosystem and regional landscape level, further emphasising the importance of recognising regional landscapes as a basis for conservation planning. A range of tenures and legislative strategies are proposed to implement this concept.

Conservation of biological diversity in NSW

Grant Bywater, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

One of the principal activities in the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service's Corporate Plan is for the preparation of a Natural Heritage Conservation Strategy (NHCS) for NSW. The Biodiversity component of the NHCS will define the concept of biodiversity; identify the key threatening processes to biodiversity and provide a framework for effectively developing and co-ordinating conservation programs to address these processes throughout NSW.

The Service is continuing to develop a range of information systems which assist in biodiversity conservation evaluation and planning. These include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at a State, Regional and District levels. These systems contain a variety of data on physical and cultural features of the landscape and are linked to biological data such as that stored in the Wildlife Atlas and the Rare or Threatened Plants database.

Under a joint Commonwealth and State Government agreement on the National Forest Inventory (NFI), the Service and the NSW Forestry Commission are collecting information on the extent of forest cover, records of rare and endangered species, forest type and terrain for the biologically diverse North-east forests. This data will be analysed using Environmental Resource Mapping System (E-RMS) a GIS software package developed by the Service.

Other important biological surveys such are being undertaken in the Wombeira land system in the north-west of the state, floodplain along a section of the Murray River and a vegetation survey of the Wheatbelt. The Service hopes to extend this survey work in order to produce a statewide vegetation map.

In addition to the more "traditional" types of survey involving animals and plants, researchers from the Australian Museum are undertaking surveys of invertebrates in forests in NE NSW.

The Service is also active in environmental research which is relevant to natural heritage conservation both on and off reserves. Several projects are underway on the conservation needs of rare or threatened species. Results from a research project on fire ecology of vegetation will provide an important input into the development of fire management strategies. The Service is also recognised for its on-going work on refining techniques for selecting reserves.

Conservation of biological diversity in Victoria

Mark O'Neil and David Parks, Department of Conservation and Environment.

In Victoria, the Land Conservation council (LCC) has promoted the detailed inventory of public land assets, including significant biological features, and has encourage broadly-based and informed public debate. The LCC has increasingly sought understanding of socio-economic implications of land-use, allowing an opportunity to assess the ecological sustainability of various activities.

A more holistic approach to biodiversity conservation is being implemented through the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. The intent of the Act applies to both public and private land. It tackles not only the traditional area of endangered species protection, but also protection of ecological communities and preventative measures such as management of threatening processes which impact on widespread and/or common biological features.

Since 1989 Victoria has had in place stringent controls on the clearing of native vegetation on private land. This has been achieved by a statewide amendment to all planning schemes under which permits are required for the removal, destruction or lopping of native vegetation on land having an area of 0.4 ha. or greater. The move has effectively ended broadscale clearing throughout the State and is a very significant advance in nature conservation. After a lot of debate over two years, the planning amendment finally passed both houses of parliament last month (interim controls have been effective since 1989).

The State Conservation Strategy (1987) highlighted the range of environmental challenges facing Victoria and presented a wide ranging policy and action program to confront these The strategy's eight priority programs relate to land degradation, flora and fauna, forests, rivers, coasts and wetlands, resource use, cities, pollution and hazardous chemicals, environmental education and community involvement.

Several other key environmental strategy/policy documents have also been produced which treat in more detail and complement aspects of the State Strategy. Important strategies/policies with major positive initiatives for maintenance of biodiversity include:

[Reports from other states in the next addition of Biolinks - ed.]

Working towards conserving our biological diversity: Commonwealth programs

The Save The Bush Remnant Native Vegetation Program and the One Billion Trees Program were both established in 1989 through the Prime Minister's statement on the Environment and are currently administered by the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service (ANPWS).

The Save the Bush Program's objective is to encourage, facilitate and support programs, actions and activities associated with the protection, management and investigation of remnant native vegetation which, directly or indirectly, assist with the maintenance of biological diversity in Australia. The Program focuses primarily on remnant native vegetation located outside national parks and other reserves. It involves a community grants scheme; incentive funding to State/Territory governments; and a public information and education program.

The One Billion Trees Program aims to have at least a billion trees planted, sown and regenerated by the year 2000. The long term goal is the reversal of the decline in tree cover of native trees and associated vegetation and a much greater community awareness and capacity to conserve, restore and nurture native vegetation.

The Endangered Species Program (ANPWS) aims to prevent the extinction due to human causes of endangered native fauna and flora, prevent further species from becoming endangered, and return endangered species and communities to a secure status in the wild.

The Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Strategy Program (NRMS) reflects the high priority placed on the Murray-Darling Basin by all member governments (the Commonwealth, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia). The NRMS addresses both natural resources and production aspects in the one program, allowing funds to be targeted to projects that address problems in an integrated way.

The Commonwealth is also responsible for the management of lands declared as national parks and reserves established under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 . Four such national parks are managed by the ANPWS – Kakudu and Uluru in the Northern Territory and two in the external territories of Norfolk Island and Christmas Island.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park  is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Other marine and estuarine protected areas in areas of Commonwealth responsibility are managed by ANPWS.

Further work on protection of our marine biological diversity will be conducted under the Ocean Rescue 2000 program begun this year and which aims to establish a national system of marine protected areas.

Taxonomic and inventory programs such as the Australian Biological Resources Study  (ANPWS), the Environmental Resources Information Network (ANPWS), the National Wilderness Inventory and Evaluation Program (Australian Heritage Commission), the Australian Network of Plant Genetic Resources Centres (established under the Australian Agricultural Council, with two of the eight centres hosted by CSIRO), the Australian Tree Seed Centre (CSIRO), and the CSIRO Collection of MicroAlgae all contribute to our knowledge of biological diversity.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens  is a collection of particular value as it is one of only two of Australia's major botanic gardens established with the specific aim of collecting native flora to develop a fully representative collection.

National Strategy update

The Biological Diversity Advisory Committee is charged with advising Environment Minister, Mrs Ros Kelly, on Australia's biodiversity. It held its fourth meeting from 13-14 November, 1991. The Committee is now well on the way to producing a draft National Strategy for the Conservation of Biological Diversity which will be made available in late January 1992.

The release of the draft Strategy will be followed by a public consultation period to allow all interested sectors of the community to comment on the draft and have their views taken into account. As part of the consultation process a major conference, the 1992 Fenner Conference on "Biological Diversity – its Future Conservation in Australia", is to be held from 11-13 March in Canberra.

The aims of the conference are to provide a national forum for government, non-government, industry and community interests to consider the draft National Strategy, and to increase community awareness of, and concern for, the conservation of Australia's biodiversity.

International Convention on Biological Diversity

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Convention on Biological Diversity has met twice since the last edition of Biolinks. Progress made at the most recent session in Geneva from 25 November - 4 December means that there is every prospect of concluding the Convention in time for the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992.

The Committee covered a large number of Articles of the draft Convention text at this meeting. Major issues which were discussed included ex-situ conservation, sustainable use of biological resources, research and training, public education and awareness, impact assessment, surveys and inventories, global lists, economic incentive measures, biotechnology and global funding for the conservation of biodiversity.

The next negotiating session will be held from 6-15 February 1992 in Nairobi. A further final session will be held in May 1992, followed by a Diplomatic Conference to finalise the form and content of the Convention. The Convention is expected to be signed in Rio de Janeiro during UNCED.

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