為了中止生物的滅絕，來自世界各地的代表共同出席了一場國際性會議，而巴西總統魯拉也在會議中指出，地球上生物多樣性的維持，多仰賴國家的政治意願，而已發展國家的政治意願更是最主要的關鍵。
第8屆生物多樣性公約締約國會高層會議在27日開議，魯拉在會中指出，要保護地球上的生物多樣性，「仍然需要已發展國家落實國際合作的承諾。」魯拉對來自173個國家的3,600名代表表示，民主是捍衛地球生物多樣性的途徑。他說：「金融、科技和世界貿易使得全球化無遠弗屆，但是仍需藉由民主，以及越來越多的社會參與，才能避免我們的需求與過度消耗之間的鴻溝持續存在。」
各國向基因改造的「絕育種子」說不
另一方面，值得部分環保人士欣慰的是，與會代表在24日的決議中，否決了任何可能損及「遺傳應用限制技術」（Genetic Use Restriction Technologies，GURTs）禁令的內容，所謂GURTs，是指一系列基因工程技術，讓企業得以引進無法繁衍下一代的種子，也就是所謂的「絕育種子」（terminator seeds）──以「絕育種子」耕作的農民，在作物收穫後無法利用其種子種植下一代作物。這種絕育種子也可能被生技公司植入一種「專利限制」基因，使農民必須使用同一家公司生產的專利化學品，才能引發該種子的某些特性。
緣起於法國的全球性農民組織Via Campesina，其成員羅德里格（Francisca Rodriguez）表示：「這對全球14億貧窮人口來說是值得紀念的一天。因為，可讓農民自行繁衍的種子，是這些貧民生存的依靠。」阿根廷原住民社區代表費加洛（Viviana Figueroa）在「生物多樣性與原住民全球論壇」中也說：「絕育種子可說是一種大規模毀滅性武器，企圖毀掉我們對食物的自主權。絕育種子威脅了我們的生活、文化與原住民認同。」
大會倡導生物多樣性的經濟價值
生物多樣性公約會議上發表的一項聯合國新報告顯示，觀賞野生動植物的活動，正逐漸演變成一種數十億美元產值的產業；同時，若能提供資金給地方社區和各項保育活動運用，這項產業還具有對抗貧窮的潛力。
委任此項報告的聯合國環境規劃署「遷移性野生動物會議」（CMS）執行秘書赫普沃斯（Robert Hepworth）表示：「讓這些動物活著，比獵捕他們更有價值」。該報告全文可從以下網址下載：http://www.cms.int/publications/wildlifewatching.pdf。
The preservation of biological diversity on the planet depends mainly on the political will of countries, especially the developed ones, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva told delegates from around the world gathered here for an international conference on halting the loss of species.
Opening the high-level meeting of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention Biological Diversity, he said today, "It also requires developed countries to fulfill their promises in terms of international cooperation." Speaking to 3,600 delegates from 173 countries, Lula said democracy is the path to defense of the planet's biodiversity. "Finance, technology, and world trade can take globalization as far as possible, but it is up to democracy, with more and more social participation, to avert a constant collision between our needs and our excesses," he said.
Some activists were pleased with Friday's decision by conference delegates to reject language that would have undermined the moratorium on Genetic Use Restriction Technologies, a class of genetic engineering technologies which allow companies to introduce seeds whose sterile offspring cannot reproduce, preventing farmers from re-planting seeds from their harvest. The so-called "terminator" seeds also could be used to introduce specific traits which would only be triggered by the application of proprietary chemicals by the same companies that engineered them.
"This is a momentous day for the 1.4 billion poor people worldwide, who depend on farmer-saved seeds," said Francisca Rodriguez of Via Campesina a worldwide movement of peasant farmers. "Terminator seeds are a weapon of mass destruction and an assault on our food sovereignty," said Viviana Figueroa of the Ocumazo indigenous community in Argentina on behalf of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity. "Terminator directly threatens our life, our culture and our identity as indigenous peoples."
A new United Nations report launched at the CBD conference shows that wildlife watching is becoming a multi-billion dollar industry with the potential to fight poverty by pumping funds into local communities and conservation initiatives.
Many wild animals are "worth far more alive than dead," said Robert Hepworth, executive secretary of the United Nations Environment Programme's Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) which commissioned the report. The full text of the study is available at: http://www.cms.int/publications/wildlifewatching.pdf
