World Must Step Up Efforts On Saving Species: Merkel

Madeline Chambers, PlanetArk 12 Jan 10;

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged industrialized and emerging countries to invest more in protecting wildlife and said the U.N. should create a body to refine scientific arguments for saving animal and plant species.

Researchers say preserving nature is crucial to the fight against climate change and warn that human activity is speeding up extinctions. They also argue that peoples' livelihoods depend on natural assets worth trillions of dollars.

Extinction rates run at 1,000 times their natural pace due to human activity, research shows. Three species vanish per hour, according to U.N. figures.

"The question of preserving biological diversity is on the same scale as climate protection," Merkel said Monday at an event to launch the United Nations' Year of Biodiversity.

"We need a sea change. Here, now, immediately -- not some time in the future," she said. "This year has to be used to relaunch this effort." Germany is chair of the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity and hands over to Japan later in the year.

Merkel said countries should invest more money in protecting species and create a network of wildlife protection areas.

NEW BODY

She also suggested setting up a new body to deal with the science of biodiversity, similar to the U.N.'s panel of climate scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC).

"It would be sensible to have an interface between the politics and the science to integrate knowledge, like the IPCC does with climate change," she said, adding such a body could help drive forward the political work.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Program, agreed, saying the time had come to do something comparable to the IPCC on the subject of biodiversity.

Up to a fifth of plant and animal species risk extinction, according to experts, and nations have missed a goal set by the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in 2002 to significantly slow the loss of biodiversity by 2010.

Ahmed Djoghlaf, CBD Executive Secretary, said it was essential to set new targets this year.

"We have established a target and missed it... we have to learn the lesson to ensure that in 2020, we will not say 'we have missed the target'."

"The strategy must be not only about setting a target but about implementation, monitoring and evaluation and integrating targets into national plans," said Djoghlaf.

Action urged on nature 'crisis'
Richard Black, BBC News 11 Jan 10;

The UN has launched the International Year of Biodiversity, warning that the ongoing loss of species around the world is affecting human well-being.

Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but the pledge will not be met.

The expansion of human cities, farming and infrastructure is the main reason.

Speaking at the launch in Berlin, German premier Angela Merkel urged the establishment of a new panel to collate scientific findings on the issue.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), urged governments and their leaders to renew their commitment to curbing biodiversity loss even though the 2010 goal will be missed.

"The urgency of the situation demands that as a global community we not only reverse the rate of loss, but that we stop the loss altogether and begin restoring the ecological infrastructure that has been damaged and degraded over the previous century or so," he said.

The UN says that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free.

These include purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events, and the provision of materials for shelter and fire.

With species extinctions running at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, some biologists contend that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction - the previous five stemming from natural events such as asteroid impacts.

Cash log

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was agreed at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, alongside the climate change convention.

But it acquired its key global pledge during the Johannesburg summit of 2002, when governments agreed to achieve a "significant reduction" in the rate of biological diversity loss by 2010.

Conservation organisations acknowledge that despite some regional successes, the target is not going to be met; some analyses suggest that nature loss is accelerating rather than decelerating.

"We are facing an extinction crisis," said Jane Smart, director of the biodiversity conservation group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"The loss of this beautiful and complex natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future."

Mrs Merkel backed the idea of forming a scientific panel to collate and assess research on biodiversity loss, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses evidence on climatic indicators.

"The question of preserving biological diversity is on the same scale as climate protection," she said.

"It would be sensible to have an interface between the politics and the science to integrate knowledge."

A large on-going UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity suggests that deforestation alone costs the global economy $2-5 trillion each year.

The UN hopes some kind of legally-binding treaty to curb biodiversity loss can be agreed at the CBD summit, held in Japan in October.

One element is due to be a long-awaited protocol under which the genetic resources of financially-poor but biodiversity-rich nations can be exploited in a way that brings benefits to all.

However, given the lack of appetite for legally-binding environmental agreements that key countries displayed at last month's climate summit in Copenhagen, it is unclear just what kind of deal might materialise on biodiversity.

Political football

The UN has been pursuing new ways of raising public awareness on the issue, including a collaboration with the Cameroon football team taking part in the African Nations Cup finals.

Many environment organisations will be running special programmes and mounting events during the year.

"The big opportunity during the International Year of Biodiversity is for governments to do for biodiversity what they failed to do for climate change in Copenhagen," said Simon Stuart, a senior science advisor to Conservation International and chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission.

"They have the chance to make a major difference; and key to this will be halting species extinctions, the most irreversible aspect of biodiversity loss."

WWF is highlighting 10 species it considers especially threatened, ranging from commercially significant ones such as bluefin tuna to the Pacific walrus and the monarch butterfly.

In the UK, the national IYB partnership - hosted from the Natural History Museum (NHM) - is asking every citizen to "do one thing for biodiversity" in 2010.

Human expansion leading to 'extinction crisis', UN warns
The Telegraph 11 Jan 10;

Human expansion is wiping out species at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate and something must be done to slow the decline, according to the United Nations.

The UN will launch the International Year of Biodiversity today, warning that the on-going loss of species around the globe will seriously affect the future of humans too.

Dignitaries including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and German premier Angela Merkel will speak at the launch in Berlin.

Mr Ban will say that human expansion is wiping out species at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, and that "business as usual is not an option", the BBC reports.

The expansion of human cities, farming and infrastructure is the main reason behind the drop in biodiversity.

The Secretary-General is expected to argue that world leaders must find effective ways of protecting forests, watersheds, coral reefs and other ecosystems.

The UN will say that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free, such as the purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events and the provision of materials for shelter and fire.

The rate of species loss leads some biologists to say that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction, the previous five stemming from natural events as asteroid impacts.

In the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), governments agreed to achieve a "significant reduction" in the rate of biological diversity by 2010.

But despite some regional successes, the target is not going to be met; some analyses suggest that nature loss is accelerating rather than decelerating.

"We are facing an extinction crisis," Jane Smart, director of the biodiversity conservation group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told the BBC.

"The loss of this beautiful and complex natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon officially launch the International Year of Biodiversity
UNEP 12 Jan 10;

Montreal, 12 January 2010 – Launching the International Year of Biodiversity in Berlin yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the world to take the necessary steps to protect the biological diversity of the Earth.

"The conservation of biological diversity has the same dimension as climate protection. We need a trend reversal - not at some point in the future, but immediately", said German Federal Chancellor Merkel, speaking on behalf of the current Presidency of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, in addressing more than 400 participants from the diplomatic corps, government, civil society, international organizations, scientists, business, and media at the celebration held in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, Germany.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity to coincide with the deadline adopted by Governments in 2002 to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of the diversity of species and ecosystems of the planet. According to scientists, the rate of loss due to human activities is as much as 1,000 times higher than the background rate.

During the year, people will celebrate the diversity of life on the planet, and its contribution to human well-being, while working to take the steps needed to combat its loss. At the ceremony in Berlin, political leaders urged the issue of biodiversity protection to be elevated to a level with other issues such as climate change and economic development.

"Worldwide, political decision-makers are increasingly recognizing that biodiversity protection is immensely important for human well-being, global economic development and combating poverty. The time has now come to ensure that these insights are followed by deeds", Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen stated.

These sentiments were echoed by Abdul Rahman Fadhl AlIryani, the Environment Minister of Yemen, the current President of the Group of 77 and China, representing 132 countries, who said that, "Preserving the rich biodiversity of Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, in all of its beauty is a priority for us and should be a priority for all."

Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the body responsible for organizing the United Nations International Year, underlined the importance of biodiversity as a global issue, stating that: "Climate change is indeed a problem, and biological diversity is part of the solution and is therefore a full component of the multilateral political ecology. This is what the International Year of Biodiversity is all about; this is why we are here today in Berlin."

In a video message to participants, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that "Business as usual is not an option," and that new targets and a new vision is needed.

The urgency of the task at hand was echoed by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. "The urgency of the situation demands that as a global community we not only reverse the rate of loss, but that we stop the loss altogether and begin restoring the ecological infrastructure that has been damaged and degraded over the previous century or so."

During the year, scientists will report on the status and trends of biodiversity loss. The third CBD assessment report, the Global Biodiversity Outlook, will be published in May, providing the latest data on status and trends, as well as policy recommendations on the best ways for Governments to press forward with the post-2010 biodiversity targets.

These recommendations will contribute to the global discussions of a new strategic plan for combating biodiversity loss, and a new set of targets to be adopted by the global community at the Nagoya Biodiversity Summit in Japan in October.

"The International Year of Biodiversity is a critical year because we can all share a common idea that we need to reverse biodiversity loss and restore biodiversity. This will lead us to concrete actions," said Issei Tajima, Senior Vice-Minister of the Environment for Japan, the incoming President of the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from 18-29 October

2010. "In such a remarkable year, Japan will host the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. I express our determination to make that meeting a success."

The launch of the year, under the slogan "Biodiversity is Life, Biodiversity is Our Life," is just the first in a series of global events and celebrations that include the observance of the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May under the theme Biodiversity for Development and Poverty Alleviation, a special high-level meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations on biodiversity in September, and others.

"It becomes crystal clear that the problems of our planet are highly interlinked - without combating climate change we will fail to stop the loss of biodiversity, without protecting ecosystems with their carbon storing capacity it will be extremely difficult to meet climate change targets. And without both of them we will fail in our efforts to fight hunger in the world," said Jochen Flasbarth, President of the German Federal Environment Agency.

Brazil, Thailand, India, and other countries also held launching events in the first week of January. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is organizing a high-level event for the year on 21-22 January in Paris, with the participation of Heads of State and Government and a scientific conference to follow. A Facebook page to celebrate the year, recently created, has gathered thousands of fans who are expressing their hopes for the year.

Boosting Biodiversity Can Boost Global Economy
UNEP 11 Jan 10;

2010 is Litmus Test of International Community's Resolve to Conserve and Enhance Planet's Natural Assets

UN's International Year of Biodiversity Kicks Off in Berlin

Berlin/Nairobi, 11 January 2010 - A new and more intelligent pact between humanity and the Earth's economically-important life-support systems is urgently needed in 2010, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

Speaking at the launch of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity in Berlin today, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP's Executive Director Achim Steiner said that an unprecedented scientific, economic, political and public awareness effort was needed to reverse-and to stop- the loss of the planet's natural assets.

These losses include its biodiversity such as animal and plant species and the planet's ecosystems and their multi-trillion dollar services arising from forests and freshwater to soils and coral reefs.

"The words biodiversity and ecosystems might seem abstract and remote to many people. But there is nothing abstract about their role in economies and in the lives of billions of people," said Mr. Steiner at the meeting hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"Take coral reefs for example. The range of benefits generated by these ecosystems and the biodiversity underpinning them are all too often invisible and mainly undervalued by those in charge of national economies and international development support," he added.

The latest estimates by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study, which UNEP hosts, indicates that coral reefs generate annually up to US$189,000 per hectare in terms of coastal defenses and other areas of 'natural hazard management'.

"In terms of diving and other tourism revenues, the annual services generated equate to perhaps US$1 million; genetic materials and bio-prospecting, up to US$57,000 per hectare annually and fisheries, up to US$3,800 per hectare per year," explained Mr. Steiner.

Meanwhile, it is estimated, for example, that one fifth of coral reefs are already seriously degraded or under imminent risk of collapse as a result of unsustainable human activities such as coastal developments, over-fishing, destructive fishing practices and pollution.

Climate change and ocean acidification, linked with the build-up of carbon dioxide, could eventually see 50 per cent and perhaps up to 100 per cent loss of coral reefs worldwide.

"If you factor the true value of coral reefs into economic planning, it is likely that far more rational and sustainable choices would be made in terms of development, emissions and pollution control and resource management. It is a similar story in respect to all of the planet's nature-based assets from forests and freshwaters to mountains and soils," said Mr. Steiner.

He added that 2010 was meant to be the year when the world reversed the rate of loss of biodiversity, but this had not happened.

"I would urge heads of state here in Berlin and beyond to renew their commitment and set their sights broad and high. The urgency of the situation demands that as a global community we not only reverse the rate of loss, but that we stop the loss altogether and begin restoring the ecological infrastructure that has been damaged and degraded over the previous century or so," stressed Mr. Steiner.

He added that the International Year of Biodiversity would prove a success only if several litmus tests are met.

Science

There is an urgent need to bridge the gap between science and policy-makers in governments around the world.

In February, environment ministers attending UNEP's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum will decide whether or not to establish an Intergovernmental Panel or Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

"There is an urgent need to take forward the science, in part to sharpen our understanding of the natural world and unravel its complexities. For example, we still do not know how many species are needed within a given ecosystem to maintain its health and its economically-important services," said Mr. Steiner.

"There is also an urgent need to ensure that the wealth of science we already have is used by governments to maximum effect and genuine and sustained action on the ground," he added.

The proposed IPBES is aimed at addressing these issues. Mr. Steiner pointed out that governments should consider supporting the proposed new panel or give guidance on an alternative body or mechanism. He added the status quo was not an option if biodiversity loss is to be truly addressed.

Public Awareness

Mobilizing public support across countries, cities, companies and communities would be among the keys to a successful year.

"De-mystifying terms such as biodiversity and ecosystems and communicating complex concepts and sometimes obscure scientific terms, will also be vital to get people on board," said UNEP's Executive Director.

"Linking livelihoods, the combating of poverty and the relationship between biodiversity and natural systems with the health of economies needs to set the tone. Equally the link between not only the threat from climate change but the role of living organisms and systems in buffering humanity against the worst impacts of global warming are messages that need to be heard loud and clear," he added.

* For example, an estimated 5 gigatonnes or 15 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions - the principal greenhouse gas - are absorbed or 'sequestrated' by forests every year, making them the "mitigation engine" of the natural world.

* Forests also capture and store rainwater, releasing it into river systems while also recycling a great deal of the nutrients upon which agriculture depends.

* Marine ecosystems, including mangroves, salt marshes and sea-grasses are not only coastal defenses and fish nurseries. It is estimated that they are absorbing and locking away greenhouse gases equal to half the world's transport emissions.

Economics

Bringing the economics of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems into mainstream economics and national accounts would be a major achievement.

TEEB, which builds on some 20 years of work, will publish its final report in advance of the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, in October this year.

However, its work so far has shed new light on how much the global economy is losing as a result of its failure to sustainably manage its natural capital.

# The TEEB Interim Report estimated that annual losses as a result of deforestation and forest degradation alone may equate to losses of US$2 trillion to over US$4.5 trillion alone.

The study is also underlining the huge economic returns from investing in nature.

# It is estimated that for an annual investment of US$45 billion into protected areas alone, the delivery of ecosystem services worth some US$5 trillion a year could be secured.

The study underlines that many countries are already factoring natural capital into some areas of economic and social life with important returns, but that this needs rapid and sustained scaling-up.

# In Venezuela, investment in the national protected area system is preventing sedimentation that otherwise could reduce farm earnings by around US$3.5 million a year

# Planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangroves in Vietnam costs just over US$1 million but saved annual expenditures on dyke maintenance of well over US$7 million

# One in 40 jobs in Europe are now linked with the environment and ecosystem services ranging from clean tech 'eco-industries' to organic agriculture, sustainable forestry and eco-tourism.

"Among the positive outcomes of the recent UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen was an agreement that Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) can join the existing options for combating climate change. In other words, paying developing nations to conserve rather forests systems so that the carbon remains locked in nature rather than emitted to the atmosphere," said Mr. Steiner.

Other possibilities, ones that meet the climate but also the biodiversity challenge, could follow and should be taken forward in 2010.

These include carbon payments for farmers and landowners who manage agriculture and land in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance living systems and the role of marine ecosystems in climate including adaptation but also their importance in terms of biodiversity.

Alien Invasive Species

Part of the challenge that echoes the economic question includes addressing alien invasive species.

These are species that, as a result of international trade including shipping or deliberate introductions, can flourish unchecked in their new homes sometimes thousands of kilometers from where they are naturally found.

# By some estimates alien invasive species may be costing the global economy US$1.4 trillion or more while representing a further challenge to the poverty-related UN Millennium Development Goals.

# In sub-Saharan Africa, the invasive witchweed is responsible for annual maize losses amounting to US$7 billion: overall losses to aliens may amount to over US$12 billion in respect to Africa's eight principle crops.

"Improved international cooperation through the UNEP-linked Convention on Biological Diversity is needed and stepped up support for the Global Invasive Species Programme," said UNEP's Executive Director.

"It is also important to boost the capacity of the responsible national customs and quarantine agencies, especially in developing countries and to accelerate controls on the movement of aliens via the UN's International Maritime Organization," he added.

Access and Benefit Sharing

Successfully negotiating an international regime on access and benefit sharing of genetic resources at the CBD meeting in Japan would also be a landmark for 2010.

Currently, and in the absence of such a regime, many developing countries harbouring the richest source of genetic material are declining companies from developing countries and scientists access to these resources.

An international regime could foster cooperation and unlock the genetic resources available in the developing world for the development of new pharmaceuticals, new crop strains and materials for all nations.

In turn it could trigger financial flows from North to South and improve the economics of conserving biodiversity and ecosystems.

"Constructive negotiations are underway since the last meeting of the CBD in Bonn in 2008 and there is optimism that an international regime could be concluded to the benefit of developed and developing economies, to the benefit of biodiversity and ecosystems," said Mr. Steiner.

Improved International Environment Governance

The international response to biodiversity loss and sustainable management of nature-based resources has been the establishment of several key bio-related treaties.

These include the CBD and its Cartagena Protocol on living modified organisms; the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species; the Convention on Migratory Species; the Ramsar Convention covering wetlands and the Africa Eurasia Waterbird Agreement.

Greater cooperation between the relevant treaties and agreements should be fostered in 2010 in order to accelerate the international response.