The Griffin

Biodiversity is our life

Text: Nina Colliander-Nyman
Photos: Courtesy of the CBD, Herman

The conservation of biodiversity has the same significance for society as climate change. In fact, human-induced climate change may be the main cause of biodiversity loss by the end of this century. The United Nations has declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity.

"Addressing biodiversity loss takes on added significance when we consider its strong links to climate change," says Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

At the Copenhagen Climate Conference last December, the Convention released a major new report which demonstrates that approximately 10% of species assessed so far have an increasingly high risk of extinction for every 1ºC rise in global mean surface temperature, a trend that continues up to a 5ºC increase.

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"Eighty-nine per cent of the national reports we have received recently from 110 of our parties have indicated climate change as one of the main drivers of the loss of biodiversity. Moreover, not only is biodiversity loss being driven by climate change, but climate change is being worsened by biodiversity loss," says Djoghlaf.

The report released by the Convention shows that the degradation of many ecosystems is significantly reducing their carbon storage and sequestration capacity, leading to increases in emissions of greenhouse gases. Hence, biodiversity loss and climate change must be addressed synergistically.

Ahmed Djoghlaf,
Executive Secretary at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity

"We humans have no other choice but to protect life
on Earth if we are to ensure our own health, wellbeing
and prosperity."

Private sector initiatives important

"Protecting life on earth requires the full engagement of all stakeholders without any exception and therefore also the private sector must get involved in conservation efforts. Hence, initiatives such as UPM's are highly welcome and praiseworthy, not only for the direct contribution they make to the sustainable use of our natural resources, but also because they serve to increase awareness and catalyse change by serving as a 'how-to' model for other companies when it comes to respecting the environment," says Djoghlaf.

Important to raise awareness

The objectives of the International Year are to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity, to communicate the human costs of its ongoing loss and to get people, and in particular young people and children, involved in efforts to conserve and sustainably use our natural heritage.

"Unfortunately the challenges of the loss of biodiversity are not well-known by policy makers and the public at large. A recent survey by the European Environmental Agency demonstrates that 66% of European citizens either have not heard of the word 'biodiversity' or do not know what it means."

For the Convention and its partners, the International Year is a time to assess progress towards achieving
the 2010 target and to create a comprehensive post- 2010 strategy for stopping biodiversity loss in the future.

Individuals can help shape the Convention's post-2010 diversity strategy by actively contributing to the online global biodiversity conference (http://www.cbd.int/aniec2010/) which was launched in November 2009 and will close in July 2010.

"The upcoming third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook will show that we have fallen short of the 2010 target because we have not yet found effective ways to enable humanity to reduce its impact on biodiversity
while maintaining or improving standards of living. Our challenge now is to reflect the true costs of biodiversity loss in the global economic system. We need to adopt mechanisms that benefit biodiversity-friendly production," concludes Djoghlaf.

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