Biodiversity loss continues unchecked, 2010 UN targets will be missed, experts say
The agreed 2010 targets to curtail global biodiversity loss based on the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity in 2003 will not be achieved, experts predict. The statement comes at the beginning of the Diversitas Open Science Conference that is taking place from 13 to 16 October in Cape Town, South Africa. In order to stem the ongoing loss of species, the experts involved in the Diversitas programme for biodiversity call for new, more science-based targets. In addition, they support the idea of creating a biodiversity body, equivalent to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to give the biodiversity science community one voice. The establishment of such a body would require the approval of the UN General Assembly. 'It is hard to image a more important priority than protecting the ecosystem services underpinned by biodiversity,' said Professor Georgina Mace of the UK's Imperial College London, Diversitas vice-chair. 'Biodiversity is fundamental to humans having food, fuel, clean water and a habitable climate. 'Yet changes to ecosystems and losses of biodiversity have continued to accelerate. Since 1992, even the most conservative estimates agree that an area of tropical rainforest greater than the size of California has been converted mostly for food and fuel,' Professor Mace noted, adding that species extinction rates have accelerated to at least 100 times those in pre-human times and continue to increase. Currently, this development is particularly noticeable in freshwater ecosystems. According to the Diversitas experts, freshwater species are the most threatened on Earth, with extinction rates four to six times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins. However, their ecological as well as economic importance has so far been neglected by policymakers, Diversitas experts note. Although they only cover 0.8% of the Earth's surface, freshwater systems are home to 10% of all animals and also absorb about 7% of man-made carbon emissions. These systems have only recently received attention, as indicated by the European Union's Biodiversity Strategy, for instance. 'Ecosystem services are difficult to value, which has led to policy neglect and the irreversible loss of species vital to a well-functioning environment,' pointed out Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Diversitas, emphasising the importance of knowledge exchange among experts. 'There is clear and growing scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major freshwater biodiversity crisis,' added Professor Klement Tockner of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, Germany. 'However, few are aware of the catastrophic decline in freshwater biodiversity at both local and global scale.' Professor Tockner warned that - despite their relatively small size - any deterioration of these aquatic systems can affect regional carbon balances: 'Freshwater ecosystems will be the first victims of both climate change and rising demands on water supplies. And the pace of extinctions is quickening -- especially in hot spot areas around the Mediterranean, in Central America, China and throughout Southeast Asia.' Diversitas is an international programme for biodiversity. It was established in 1991 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and the International Union of Biological Science (IUBS) to address scientific questions related to the loss of and change in global biodiversity. As an international, non-governmental umbrella programme, Diversitas aims to maximise the impact of biodiversity initiatives worldwide by facilitating knowledge transfer and strengthening scientific networks.
Countries
South Africa