IPS 14 May 2019
(Originally published: 05/2010) In 2002, world leaders committed to reduce the rate of global biodiversity loss by 2010, but the date has come and gone for these commitments to be fulfilled. (617 words) - Marguerite A. Suozzi
UNITED NATIONS - In 2002, world leaders committed to reduce the
rate of global biodiversity loss by 2010, but the date has come and
gone for these commitments to be fulfilled.
In 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, leaders have not
only failed to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, "but
biodiversity is still being lost as fast as ever, and we have made
little headway in reducing the pressures on species, habitats and
ecosystems," said Dr. Stuart Butchart of the United Nations
Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre and
BirdLife International.
Butchart is also a co-author of a paper in the journal Science
this week entitled "Global Biodiversity: Indicators of Recent
Declines". It is the first article to assess the commitments made
to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss in 2002 through the
Convention on Biological Diversity.
The publication of the paper coincides with the Ninth Session of
the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII),
which has focused on the impact of development projects on
indigenous lands, where biodiversity is also being
threatened.
This stands in seeming contrast with the theme of International
Biological Diversity day, which will take place on May 22, under
the title 'Biodiversity, Development and Poverty Alleviation'. How
development projects and the maintenance and protection of
biological diversity can coexist will be a challenge for
international organisations, governments, NGOs and civil society to
confront in coming years.
"Our water is being poisoned, our woods are being cut down," said
a speaker from the Andean Platform of Indigenous Organisations at a
panel discussing the "devastating" role of logging, mining, and
other "mega development" projects on indigenous land as part of the
Forum.
Manuela Ima, the president of the Association of the Waorani Women
of the Ecuadorian Amazon (AMWAE), told IPS that oil-extracting
companies threatened the environment and her community in the
Pastaza region of the Amazon.
"In Ecuador, there are seven oil companies," Ima told IPS. "There
is so much pollution - noise pollution, trash, the river is
contaminated, so is the air. We do not want this."
The targets established in 2002 as part of the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD), signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, aim
to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by conserving genetic
diversity, protecting ecosystems and species, promoting sustainable
use, consumption and traditional knowledge, and addressing the
challenges to achieving these goals.
According to the CBD website, the main threat to biological
diversity is human activity, manifested in different ways through
demands for food, water, energy and materials.
One industry where this challenge is manifested particularly
clearly is the food and agriculture sector, which place enormous
pressures on the natural environment to produce sufficient yields
to cater to human consumption. The CBD advocates for the
incorporation of biodiversity considerations into trade policies
and poverty reduction strategies.
"Since 1970, we have reduced animal populations by 30 percent, the
area of mangroves and sea grasses by 20 percent and the coverage of
living corals by 40 percent," said Prof. Joseph Alcamo, the United
Nations Environment Programme's chief scientist.
"These losses are clearly unsustainable, since biodiversity makes
a key contribution to human well-being and sustainable development,
as recognised by the U.N. Millennium Development Goals," he
said.
Another challenge facing the successful achievement of the targets
established in 2002 is the seeming inability of the Convention to
hold accountable those leaders and countries who have committed to
achieving these goals.
"Our data show that 2010 will not be the year that biodiversity
loss was halted, but it needs to be the year in which we start
taking the issue seriously and substantially increase our efforts
to take care of what is left of our planet," said Butchart.