In Johannesburg Summit 2002 the international community set itself the goal of making a “substantial reduction in the rate of loss of biological diversity” by 2010. Now we know that this goal will not be reached.
Biologists talk about sixth extinction wave. They estimate that the rate of species extinction is about 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate, mostly because of human activities: habitat loss, exploitation and climate change.
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment “reducing biodiversity will impact societies at a number of levels, including diminishing the availability of economically valuable natural goods such as timber and compromising “ecosystem services” such as fresh water and biodegrading bacteria.”
So we have some challenges here. Biodiversity is a difficult word, but not impossible to spell. So it must also be possible to celebrate and save the biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth!
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, says: “Tens of billions of dollars are being earmarked for carbon capture and storage at power stations with the CO2 to be buried underground or under the sea…. But perhaps the international community is overlooking a tried and tested method that has been working for millennia, the biosphere. By some estimates the Earth’s living systems might be capable of sequestering more than 50 gigatones (Gt) of carbon over the coming decades with the right market signals.”
“A dispute over the protection of the Saimaa ringed seal (Phoca hispida saimensis), a critically endangered species, is causing deep divisions among political parties in Finland. The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, the largest environmental organization in Finland, called for a ban on the use of fishnets in Lake Saimaa during the spring in order to prevent the extinction of this highly vulnerable species.
Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, the centre party’s Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, is trying to promote voluntary agreements: fishermen who stop using nets in waters where they have exclusive fishing rights will receive compensation.
Many government and opposition MPs find Minister Anttila’s proposals difficult to swallow: not all owners of fishing rights have signed agreements and continue using nets…”
