Sounding the alarm on biodiversity loss

With the United Nations’ climate change conference under way in Bonn, Germany, rising global temperatures are once again at the top of the world’s agenda. But why care about the increase in temperature, if not because of its impact on life on Earth, including human life?

That is an important question to consider, in view of the relative lack of attention devoted to a closely related and equally important threat to human survival: the startling pace of global biodiversity loss.

The availability of food, water and energy — fundamental building blocks of every country’s security — depends on healthy, robust and diverse ecosystems, and on the life that inhabits them. But as a result of human activities, planetary biodiversity is now declining faster than at any point in history.

Many policymakers, however, have yet to recognise that biodiversity loss is just as serious a threat as rising sea levels and increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

This lack of sufficient attention comes despite international commitments to protect biodiversity.

In October 2010, global leaders met in Aichi, Japan, where they produced the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which included 20 ambitious targets — such as halving global habitat loss and ending overfishing — that signatories agreed to meet by 2020.

Safeguarding biodiversity is also specifically included in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, progress towards these global biodiversity goals is likely to fall dangerously short of what is needed to ensure an acceptable future for all.

Policymakers have largely agreed on the importance of holding the increase in global temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels — the goal of the Paris climate agreement. But too few leaders have shown any sense of urgency about stemming biodiversity losses. The sustainable future we want depends on ending this indifference.

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