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Biodiversity is life

Biodiversity is our life

2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations. This is the website of IYB-UK, which is the UK partnership supporting IYB.

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. It is essential for sustaining the natural living systems or ecosystems that provide us with food, fuel, health, wealth, and other vital services.

Humans are part of this biodiversity too and have the power to protect or destroy it. Currently, our activities are destroying biodiversity at alarming rates.  These losses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on. But we can prevent them.

We need to reflect on our achievements to safeguard biodiversity and focus on the urgent challenges ahead. Now is the time to act.

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Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) © NHM

Identify and record the trees in your garden, street and park for the Natural History Museum’s urban tree survey

Small tortoiseshell © Jim Asher/Butterfly Conservation

Join the biggest ever nationwide survey to assess the health of our environment from 24 July – 1 August.

More Trees, More Good © WTPL

More Trees, More Good is a new campaign from the Woodland Trust to encourage us to plant 20 million native trees a year for the next 50 years.

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Your input is needed to plan for nature’s future. The government’s Big Society drive has been rolled out to cover biodiversity issues as the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman today called for views to help shape the government’s policy on the environment.

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 The Biking for Biodiversity team (L-R: Will, Andy and Pete)

And there it was. Boom. Back in London. Having cycled 3,000km, through eight different countries, to travel from the source to the mouth of the River Danube in just three weeks. That question was a sharp and sudden reminder that we were now back home, back on the bike, and back commuting to work. The adventure was over.