Scientists urge immediate, coordinated action to halt biodiversity loss

Halting then reversing the dangerous ongoing loss of Earths plant and animal diversity requires far more than an expanded global system of protected areas of land and seas scientists warnedNeeded is successful coordinated action across a diverse interconnected set of transformative changes including massive reductions in harmful agricultural and fishing subsidies deep reductions in overconsumption and holding climate change to 15 degrees CelsiusMore than 50 scientists from 23 countries on Wednesday delivered to governments a synthesis of the science informing and underpinning 21 targets proposed in the draft apost2020 Global Biodiversity Framework being negotiated under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity CBD and scheduled for adoption later this year at a world biodiversity summit in ChinaThe analysis was coordinated by two renowned international science bodies bioDISCOVERY a programme of the Future Earth organization and the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network GEO BONSays Paul Leadley an assessment leader past chair of bioDISCOVERY and professor at ParisSaclay University France The target of protecting 30 per cent of all land and seas is important and attracting a lot of attention And expanding protected areas is a good start if done well but far short of whats needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss called abending the curve for biodiversityTheres very good evidence that we will fail again to meet ambitious international biodiversity objectives if theres too much focus on protected areas at the expense of other urgent actions addressing the threats to biodiversityGovernments are clearly struggling with the breadth and depth of the transformative changes needed to bend the curve for biodiversity and sometimes seem unwilling to face up to it But deep changes are necessary and will greatly benefit people in the long runThe essential point says bioDISCOVERY cochair Lynne Shannon a professor at the University of Cape Town South Africa is that there is no onetoone linkage from any action target to a specific milestone or goal instead manytomany relationships exist among themWe need to recognise therefore the complex relationships among targets milestones and goals and undertake our planning and actions in an integrated mannerAmong the groups key conclusions and recommendations Success requires transformative change Past experience in slowing and reversing biodiversity loss as well as scenarios of future biodiversity change show that only a comprehensive portfolio of interrelated actions will significantly reduce direct threats to biodiversity from land and sea use change direct exploitation of organisms climate change pollution and invasive alien speciesNone of the Global Biodiversity Framework targets that address these direct threats to biodiversity will alone contribute more than 15 per cent of whats needed to reach the worlds ultimate goals for ecosystems species and genetic diversityAction must be coordinated at every scale with progress assessed frequently The degree of biodiversity change and the relative importance of drivers vary greatly across scales and from place to place and drivers in one place can affect biodiversity in other places far away telecoupling eg through global trade climate change etcSuccess will require action coordinated across local national and international levels in natural and managed ecosystems and across intact and working lands and seasSays coauthor Maria Cecilia LondoAo Murcia of the Humboldt Institute Colombia The sooner we act the better Time lags between action and positive outcomes for biodiversity can take decades so we must act immediately and sustain our efforts if we are to reach the global goals by 2050This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever