{"id":17388,"date":"2016-05-22T16:01:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T16:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=17388"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:00:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:00:01","slug":"un-highlights-biodiversitys-role-in-underpinning-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2016\/05\/un-highlights-biodiversitys-role-in-underpinning-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ highlights biodiversity’s role in underpinning development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it supports are the foundations for life on Earth and the livelihoods and well-being of people everywhere, United Nations\u00a0Secretary-General<\/a> Ban Ki-moon said on the International Day for Biological Diversity, as he urged the international community to preserve and sustainably manage the variety of life on the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting biodiversity and preventing further losses is an essential investment in our collective future,\u201d Mr. Ban said in his message<\/a> marking the Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn this International Day for Biodiversity, I urge all Governments and stakeholders to preserve and sustainably manage the variety of life on Earth for the benefit of current and future generations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Day is marked around the world every year on 22 May. This year’s theme<\/a> is ‘Mainstreaming Biodiversity; Sustaining People and their Livelihoods.’<\/p>\n

In his message, the Secretary-General highlighted that biodiversity is an important cross-cutting issue in the message<\/a> marking the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition, he noted that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15<\/a> explicitly recognizes the importance of halting biodiversity loss, and other SDGs recognize the importance of biological diversity for eradicating poverty, providing food and fresh water, and improving life in cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is critical that we make progress in mainstreaming biodiversity and transforming how societies value and manage it,\u201d the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ chief said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ban noted that despite numerous commitments, biodiversity loss continues to accelerate in all regions. Only 15 per cent of countries are on track to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets<\/a> by the agreed-upon date of 2020.<\/p>\n

In addition, he said that the anticipated expansion of sectors that both depend on and affect biodiversity \u2013 including agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture \u2013 will pose a significant challenge to halting biodiversity loss in the coming decades.<\/p>\n

Reversing these trends will require action by all sectors and stakeholders, from Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Member States and agencies to civil society, academia and business, the Secretary-General said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need better research, and we need to act on the evidence that biodiversity is integral to achieving social and economic goals,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ban also emphasized that the responsible use of natural resources is essential to sustainable development, as mainstreaming biodiversity will ensure that addressing development needs and protecting the environment are mutually supportive.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreserving biological diversity is a vital part of our compact with each other and the planet that nurtures us,\u201d the Secretary-General concluded.<\/p>\n

In his message<\/a> on the Day, Achim Steiner, Executive director of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Environment Programme (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵEP<\/a>) said that while marvel at iconic species in other parts of the world and on our digital screens, such as elephants, tigers and pandas, many of us are much less familiar with the sheer magnitude of diversity of plants and animals on this planet or the habitats that support them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwareness about our current global challenge of biodiversity loss is also low \u2013 a challenge that will expand along with the sectors affecting biodiversity, such as agriculture or forestry,\u201d he said, stressing at the same time, that biodiversity provides us with the ecosystem services that are our<\/p>\n

foundations for life, everywhere on this planet, from fishermen depending on coastal waters, to farmers depending on crops, to tropical communities depending on forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to better integrate biodiversity into how we think and into everything that we do. And we all need to do more to prevent its loss,\u201d the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵEP chief said, echoing the theme of this year’s Day.<\/p>\n

In another message<\/a> on the Day, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Braulio F. de Souza Dias, stressed that addressing the indirect and direct drivers of biodiversity loss requires a focus on primary sectors, such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese sectors both impact biodiversity and are dependent on biodiversity,\u201d he said. \u201cThe demand for the goods and services produced by these sectors is projected to increase over the coming decades as a result of population growth, increasing average wealth, and other demographic changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted, for example, that demand for food, wood, water and energy is projected to increase 1.5 to two times by 2050 due to increasing population and average wealth, with a concomitant and negative effect on biodiversity.<\/p>\n

Therefore, mainstreaming biodiversity considerations across these sectors is essential in ensuring\u00a0not only the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity but also the continued vitality of\u00a0these sectors, he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Via Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ News Centre<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it supports are the foundations for life on Earth and the livelihoods and well-being of people everywhere, said Ban Ki-moon on International Day of Biodiversity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4,29],"tags":[3011,139,5922],"class_list":["post-17388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-on-land","category-news","category-sustainable-development-agenda","tag-biodiversity","tag-forests","tag-international-day-of-biodiversity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}