Diplomats from 130 nations gathered in Paris today to validate a grim UN assessment of the state of nature and lay the groundwork for a rescue plan for life on Earth
The destruction of nature threatens humanity "at least as much as human-induced climate change," UN biodiversity chief Robert Watson said as the five-day meeting began.A 44-page draft "Summary for Policy Makers", obtained by AFP, catalogues the 1,001 ways in which our species has plundered the planet and damaged its capacity to renew the resources upon which we depend, starting with breathable air, drinkable water and productive soil.
Twenty 10-year targets adopted in 2010 under the United Nations' biodiversity treaty - to expand protected areas, slow species and forest loss, and reduce pollution - will, with one or two exceptions, fail badly. Historically, conservation biology has focused on the plight of pandas, polar bears and a multitude of less "charismatic" animals and plants that humanity is harvesting, eating, crowding or poisoning into oblivion."Up to now, we have talked about the importance of biodiversity mostly from an environmental perspective," Watson told AFP ahead of the Paris meet.
Set up in 2012, the IPBES synthesises published science for policymakers in the same way the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change does on climate.But the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity has always been a poor stepchild compared to its climate counterpart, and the IPBES was added as an afterthought, making its authority harder to establish.
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