International Day for Biological Diversity

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...

The conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems is essential for sustainable development and for achieving SDG 15. Target 15.9 of this goal include a call to integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local development planning, poverty reduction strategies and accounts. Other targets highlight the importance of particular ecosystems, including freshwater, forests, deserts and degraded lands, and mountain ecosystems. Forests cover around 30% of the Earth’s land area, containing 80% of terrestrial biomass and providing habitat for over half of the world’s known terrestrial plant and animal species. Although the net annual rate of forest loss has slowed down over the past decades, it is still a matter of concern because the loss is occurring in areas with particularly high ecological value. While there is a marked increase in protected areas over the past century, many key biodiversity areas are not adequately covered ...