On 11.01.2010 Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel will open the International Year of Biodiversity with a speech at the Berlin Museum of Natural History. The topic of biological diversity thus, politically, comes further to the fore.

The kick-off event expects additional prominent participants such as the UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner and 250 other invited guests.

Federal Minister for the Environment, Dr. Norbert Röttgen, completes the event with the opening of the Business and Biodiversity Initiative’s touring exhibition - “Without Biological Diversity, no Diversity in Business”.

After the first station in the Museum of Natural History, the touring exhibition will travel throughout Germany.  In addition to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Bionade, GTZ, HeidelbergCement, Mars, Otto Group, SolarWorld, TUI, UPM, Volkswagen, Weleda, and Werner & Mertz will also host the exhibition. An additional, an exhibition is touring in Japan simultaneously before it arrives at the 10th Conference of the parties to the CBD in Nagoya, Japan, in October 2010.

Information about the event location and accreditation is available at
www.bmu.de/naturschutz_biologische_vielfalt/downloads/doc/45484.php

More information about the UN proclaimed International Year of Biodiversity is available at
www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/