It was decided that Nagoya host the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (Cop10) which is the international discussion base for Biological Diversity.  The meeting will take place form 18th-29th of October at the international conference centre in Atsuka-ku, Nagoya.

Background - What exactly does COP 10 mean?

The Conference of the Parties is the governing body of the Convention, and advances implementation of the Convention through the decisions it takes at its periodic meetings. To date the Conference of the Parties has held 9 regular meetings, and one extraordinary meeting. From 1994 to 1996, the Conference of the Parties held its regular meetings annually. Since then these meetings have been held less frequently and, following a change in the rules of procedure in 2000, will now be held every two years. To date the Conference of the Parties has taken a total of 252 procedural and substantive decisions.

Why Nagoya? With the year 2010 being official titled the year of Biodiversity by the United Nations the issue of maintaining balanced variety of life on Earth will be very much the focus of environmental discussion around the world.  This coming October, Nagoya has been chosen as the next country to stage the discussions which will be attended by high level representatives from all over the world. It was decided at the COP9 held in Germany in May 2008 that the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be held in the City of Nagoya, Aichi prefecture. What is Biodiversity? A variety of life exists on earth. They are all inter-connected with each other to form a "Web of Life". We humans are also a part of it, and our life is supported by various blessings of biodiversity. However, many species are now threatened with extinction, in other words, the global biodiversity is facing a crisis. The Convention on Biological Diversity is a framework to tackle this issue on a global level. The Ministry of  Environment of Japan will strengthen efforts for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity towards the COP10.

Read More by visiting the homepage for the Convention on Biological Diversity