The natural environment provides the basic conditions without which humanity could not survive.
Life on the blue planet is contained within the biosphere, a thin and irregular envelope around
the Earth’s surface, just a few kilometres deep around the radius of the globe. Here, ecosystems
purify the air and the water that are the basis of life. They stabilise and moderate the Earth’s
climate. Soil fertility is renewed, nutrients are cycled and plants are pollinated.
Although scientists are now able to appreciate the complexity of this web of interacting
natural processes, we are still a very long way from understanding how they all fit together.
What we do know is that if any part of the web suffers breaks down, the future of life on the
planet will be at risk.
Biological diversity – the variability of life on Earth – is the key to the ability of the biosphere
to continue providing us with these ecological goods and services and thus is our species’ life
assurance policy.
However, as a species we are degrading, and in some cases destroying, the ability of biological
diversity to continue performing these services. The 20th century saw a fourfold increase in
human numbers and an eighteen-fold growth in world economic output. With these came
unsustainable patterns of consumption and the use of environmentally unsound technologies.
There are now more than six billion of us and we are placing unprecedented strains on the
planet’s ability to cope. Worse, the fruits of this growth are extremely unequally divided.
Whilst some enjoy better standards of living than at any time in history, nearly half the world’s
population is unjustifiably poor, making do on less than $2 a day. Worse still, the poor suffer
disproportionately from the damage done to the environment.
In the 21st century, we will stand or fall on our ability to collectively eradicate poverty,
guarantee human rights and ensure an environmentally sustainable future. Freedom from want,
freedom from fear and sustaining our future are all part of the same equation.
The world community has recognised this. Over the last ten years the United Nations has
convened a series of summit meetings and negotiations to adopt legal instruments and
programmes for action on key issues: education, the rights of children, environment and
development, human rights, population and development, social development, the
advancement of women, human settlements and food security. The legal and policy
instruments are, by and large, in place. What is needed now is to ensure that they are
implemented.
The Convention on Biological Diversity is one of these instruments. The Convention was
opened for signature at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in
Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. It came into force at the end of 1993 and has now been ratified by
the overwhelming majority of countries, for whom it is now a legally binding commitment to
conserve biological diversity, to sustainably use its components and to share equitably the
benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Biological diversity – or biodiversity – is the term given to
the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms.
The biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years
of evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly,
by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life of
which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully
depend.
This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide
variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about
1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small
creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are
actually about 13 million species, though estimates range
from 3 to 100 million.
Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each
species – for example, between varieties of crops and breeds
of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA – the building
blocks of life – determine the uniqueness of each individual
and each species.
Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of
ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests,
wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural
landscapes. In each ecosystem, living creatures, including
humans, form a community, interacting with one another
and with the air, water, and soil around them.
Life on the blue planet is contained within the biosphere, a thin and irregular envelope around
the Earth’s surface, just a few kilometres deep around the radius of the globe. Here, ecosystems
purify the air and the water that are the basis of life. They stabilise and moderate the Earth’s
climate. Soil fertility is renewed, nutrients are cycled and plants are pollinated.
Although scientists are now able to appreciate the complexity of this web of interacting
natural processes, we are still a very long way from understanding how they all fit together.
What we do know is that if any part of the web suffers breaks down, the future of life on the
planet will be at risk.
Biological diversity – the variability of life on Earth – is the key to the ability of the biosphere
to continue providing us with these ecological goods and services and thus is our species’ life
assurance policy.
However, as a species we are degrading, and in some cases destroying, the ability of biological
diversity to continue performing these services. The 20th century saw a fourfold increase in
human numbers and an eighteen-fold growth in world economic output. With these came
unsustainable patterns of consumption and the use of environmentally unsound technologies.
There are now more than six billion of us and we are placing unprecedented strains on the
planet’s ability to cope. Worse, the fruits of this growth are extremely unequally divided.
Whilst some enjoy better standards of living than at any time in history, nearly half the world’s
population is unjustifiably poor, making do on less than $2 a day. Worse still, the poor suffer
disproportionately from the damage done to the environment.
In the 21st century, we will stand or fall on our ability to collectively eradicate poverty,
guarantee human rights and ensure an environmentally sustainable future. Freedom from want,
freedom from fear and sustaining our future are all part of the same equation.
The world community has recognised this. Over the last ten years the United Nations has
convened a series of summit meetings and negotiations to adopt legal instruments and
programmes for action on key issues: education, the rights of children, environment and
development, human rights, population and development, social development, the
advancement of women, human settlements and food security. The legal and policy
instruments are, by and large, in place. What is needed now is to ensure that they are
implemented.
The Convention on Biological Diversity is one of these instruments. The Convention was
opened for signature at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in
Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. It came into force at the end of 1993 and has now been ratified by
the overwhelming majority of countries, for whom it is now a legally binding commitment to
conserve biological diversity, to sustainably use its components and to share equitably the
benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
Biological diversity – or biodiversity – is the term given to
the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms.
The biodiversity we see today is the fruit of billions of years
of evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly,
by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life of
which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully
depend.
This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide
variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about
1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small
creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are
actually about 13 million species, though estimates range
from 3 to 100 million.
Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each
species – for example, between varieties of crops and breeds
of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA – the building
blocks of life – determine the uniqueness of each individual
and each species.
Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of
ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests,
wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural
landscapes. In each ecosystem, living creatures, including
humans, form a community, interacting with one another
and with the air, water, and soil around them.
No comments:
Post a Comment