Biodiversity Turning Point?

The Convention on Biological Diversity committed the 193 participating nations to significantly slow the decline of biodiversity by 2010. However, with nearly 17,000 plant and animal species currently at risk of extinction, it is clear that this target will not be met. Will the 2010 Year of Biodiversity be a turning point?

Ecosystems -- and the biodiversity that underpins them -- support livelihoods around the world and generate services worth between $21 trillion and up to $72 trillion a year.

To halt the worldwide loss of biodiversity, which is resulting in a heavy human cost, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is therefore proposing a rescue package similar to that introduced after the global financial crisis.

Such a package is urgently needed, he told a high-level General Assembly event on biodiversity, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 22. "We are bankrupting our natural economy," he added.

Describing ecosystems as "our natural capital", Ban stressed that a loss of biodiversity can lead to the failure of crops, a drop in profits, a deepening of poverty and economic decline. "Allowing (our natural infrastructure) to decline is like throwing money out of the window," he said.

Opening the debate in the United Nations General Assembly, Ban Ki-moon stressed the link between biodiversity and human systems, arguing that “conserving the planet's species and habitats - and the goods and services they provide - is central to sustainable development and the Millennium Development Goals”.

He asserted that the global decline in biodiversity is actually accelerating. “The 2010 target [of reducing the decline in biodiversity] will not be met,” Ban said. “Science tells us that our actions have pushed extinctions to up to 1,000 times the natural background rate. The reason is simple: human activities. Yours, mine, everyone's.”

He said the main causes for the decline include deforestation, changes in habitat, land degradation and the growing impact of climate change.

Germany is currently leading the convention, which will be taken over by Japan in October. All 193 parties to the convention are scheduled to meet in Nagoya, Japan, from 18th to 29th October to adopt a strategic plan on biodiversity and a 2050 biodiversity vision.