International Day for Biological Diversity

Every day there are millions of interactions in nature that are essential for a healthy planet. Losing even a small species can have massive impacts on ecosystems and on humans. Find out more in this handy infographic. via  IPBES

"Everything on our planet - including us - is interconnected and interdependent, like a delicate set of bricks or Jenga tower. The more bricks and the more connections between them, the stronger the tower. But when one piece falls, the whole structure can come crashing down. "

  What is Biodiversity ?

It’s a relationship between humans, animals, plants and the environment . It relies on the understanding of how human actions and policies could affect animal, plant & environment health and how it impacts humans as a result . A One Health Approach helps tackle health threats by linking humans, animals, plans and environment together.

 

Yes. It’s very serious, and it needs to be urgently tackled. Starting with the natural and land sea carbon sinks mentioned above. They are being degraded, with examples including the deforestation of the Amazon and the disappearance of salt marshes and mangrove swamps , which remove large amounts of carbon. The way we use the land and sea is one of the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss . Since 1990, around 420 million hectares of forest have been lost through conversion to other land uses. Agricultural expansion continues to be the main driver of deforestation, forest degradation and forest biodiversity loss . Other major drivers of species decline include overfishing and the introduction of invasive alien species (species that have entered and established themselves in the environment outside their natural habitat, causing the decline or even extinction of native species and negatively affecting ecosystems). These activities, UNEP has shown , are pushing around a million spec...

Healthy ecosystems are a source of food, water, medicine, shelter and more. Yet, human activities have altered most terrestrial habitats. Urgent action is needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #BuildBackBiodiversity , #BiodiversityDay on May 22nd.

The possible demise of the polar bear is tied directly to the effects of global warming. Sea ice is the key habitat for the polar bear providing dens, hunting grounds, and means of travel. Global warming has an increased effect in the arctic, with water temperatures increasing faster than other areas of the globe. The polar bear is classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List. Species Categorized as Vulnerable (VU) . The Red List Index (RLI) is one way of representing information on the status of biodiversity from The IUCN Red List . Complementary measures include the proportion of species that are threatened with extinction (as illustrated, for example, in Díaz et al. 2019 ), and the proportion of species that have declining trends. More broadly, the trends in extinction risk shown by the RLI capture just one aspect of biodiversity loss. Complementary indicators produced from other datasets show trends in population abundance and community intactness.

  Mountain gorillas are considered endangered by IUCN's Red List . Not only are mountain gorillas threatened by loss of habitat due to human encroachment, they have also become victims of human violence . As civil war rages in Africa, efforts to conserve mountain gorilla populations have been curtailed. A taxon is Extinct In The Wild (EW) when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations). The Red List Index (RLI) has been widely adopted in different policy contexts, including for assessing progress towards the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010 target and Aichi Biodiversity Targets , the UN Sustainable Development Goals (for which it is an official indicator for Goal 15), the Convention on Migratory Species (and several of its daughter agreements), etc. It is recommended as an indicator for the Goals and Targets in the CBD's post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework . It has also been used in the reg...

The Leptodactylus fallax, commonly known as the mountain chicken or giant ditch frog, is a critically endangered species of frog that is native to the Caribbean islands of Dominica and Montserrat. The mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax) is not a chicken. It is a frog. Officially named the Giant Ditch Frog and locally known as a mountain chicken possibly because of its large drumstick like legs which were once eaten for food. One of the largest frogs in the world The mountain chicken is one of the largest frogs in the world and can weigh over 40 times as much as a European common frog, reaching up to 1kg in size. They eat a variety of animals, including insects, snakes, small mammals, and even other frogs. These frogs currently occur in Dominica and Montserrat but were once far more widespread. An epidemic of the fungal disease amphibian chytridiomycosis almost wiped-out mountain chickens forever. Since one of the pathogens that causes the disease arrived in Dominica in 2002 ...

Bolivian chinchilla rats are listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN red list of threatened species. Data on populations and ecological requirements are extremely limited and they are also designated "data deficient." A taxon is Vulnerable (VU) when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Vulnerable, and it is therefore considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. Species Categorized as Vunerable (VU) .

The population of black rhinos declined dramatically in the 20th century at the hands of European hunters and settlers. Between 1960 and 1995, black rhino numbers dropped by a sobering 98%, to less than 2,500 individuals. Since then, the species has made a tremendous comeback from the brink of extinction. Most species that move between categories on The IUCN Red List (see the section Reasons for Changing Category ) do so because of improved knowledge or revised taxonomy. It is therefore impossible to determine any meaningful trends in the status of biodiversity simply by looking at overall changes in numbers of threatened species between updates.The Red List Index (RLI) .  A Categories listed as Extinct (EX) . 

Once common throughout Africa and Asia, elephant populations have experienced significant declines over the last century. The greatest threat to African forest elephants is poaching for the illegal ivory trade , while Asian elephant populations are most at risk from habitat loss and resulting human-elephant conflict. Species categorized as Extinct (EX)  

Listed as ' Critically Endangered ' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 1996, the Amur leopard suffered extensive population declines in the late 20th century as a result of poaching, habitat loss and degradation, prey depletion, and a number of consequential anthropogenic threats The Red List Index (RLI) shows trends in overall extinction risk for species , and is used by governments to track their progress towards targets for reducing biodiversity loss.