More than 250 guests attended the launch event at the Natural History Museum on 25 November.
The guests heard Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity press for an urgent response to halt the current unprecedented loss of species.
As governments fail to meet targets set to stem biodiversity loss after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Djoghlaf warns that there is a lack of urgency in their actions. In October 2010, governments will set new targets for the decade ahead.
During the evening celebrity guests and partners were asked what biodiversity means to them and what they hope the International Year for Biodiversity will achieve.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
Biodiversity catastrophe
Some scientists believe that there is a biodiversity catastrophe unfolding, perhaps even a mass extinction like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
‘Today, the rate of species extinction may be 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate,’ says Dr Djoghlaf.
Climate change
‘Climate change is emerging as one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss,' says Dr Djoghlaf.
'According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 30% of all known species may disappear before the end the century due to climate change.
'10% of species assessed to date will face an increasingly high risk of extinction for every 1°C rise in global mean surface temperature.’
Ecosystem services
Most of these losses are irreversible and are caused by human activities. They will affect the balance of natural ecosystems, the services they provide and the services we depend on.
Ecosystems such as coral reefs, for example, provide important services like coastal protection and fish nurseries, they are home to one quarter of all marine fish species.
In citing the need for adaptation within species to ensure long term survival, Djoghlaf appealed for a global change in approach within our institutions and governing processes in order to develop a new biodiversity strategy.
The launch event sets in motion a year of IYB activities around the UK, from January to December 2010, to promote a better understanding of biodiversity and highlight biodiversity loss.
Soil Association Organic Fortnight (3–17 September) is the UK’s biggest celebration of all things organic. Organic farming is a sustainable system of food production that works with nature, avoids the use of pesticides, and prohibits the use of synthetic fertilisers and genetically modified organisms.
It gives me great pleasure to start with a disclaimer. Most View articles are careful to note that they are the personal views of the writer – rather than a particular organisation. In my case, however, this is not one particular organisation, but amazingly, more than 40 organisations that have been involved with BioBlitzes this year.
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.
More views