Stop biodiversity loss or we could face our own extinction, warns UN

Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by aliceNcullen

The world has two years to secure a deal for nature to halt a ‘silent killer’ as dangerous as climate change, says biodiversity chief

The world must thrash out a new deal for nature in the next two years or humanity could be the first species to document our own extinction, warns the United Nation’s biodiversity chief.

Ahead of a key international conference to discuss the collapse of ecosystems, Cristiana Pașca Palmer said people in all countries need to put pressure on their governments to draw up ambitious global targets by 2020 to protect the insects, birds, plants and mammals that are vital for global food production, clean water and carbon sequestration.

Q&A What is biodiversity and why does it matter? Show Hide Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, in all its forms and all its interactions. “Without biodiversity, there is no future for humanity,” says Prof David Macdonald, at Oxford University. It is comprised of several levels, starting with genes, then individual species, then communities of creatures and finally entire ecosystems, such as forests or coral reefs, where life interplays with the physical environment. Without plants there would be no oxygen and without bees to pollinate there would be no fruit or nuts. The services provided by ecosystems are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars – double the world’s GDP. Biodiversity loss in Europe alone costs the continent about 3% of its GDP, or €450m (£400m), a year. The extinction rate of species is now thought to be about 1,000 times higher than before humans dominated the planet, which may be even faster than the losses after a giant meteorite wiped out the dinosaurs 65m years ago. The sixth mass extinction in geological history has already begun, according to some scientists. Billions of individual populations have been lost, with the number of animals living on Earth having plunged by half since 1970. Researchers call the massive loss of wildlife a “biological annihilation”. Forest felling is often the first step and 30m hectares – the area of the Britain and Ireland – were lost globally in 2016. Poaching and unsustainable hunting for food is another major factor. Changes to the climate are reversible, even if that takes centuries or millennia – but once species become extinct, there’s no going back.

“The loss of biodiversity is a silent killer,” she told the Guardian. “It’s different from climate change, where people feel the impact in everyday life. With biodiversity, it is not so clear but by the time you feel what is happening, it may be too late.”

The loss of biodiversity is a silent killer. Cristiana Pașca Palmer

Pașca Palmer is executive director of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – the world body responsible for maintaining the natural life support systems on which humanity depends.

Its 196 member states will meet in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, this month to start discussions on a new framework for managing the world’s ecosystems and wildlife. This will kick off two years of frenetic negotiations, which Pașca Palmer hopes will culminate in an ambitious new global deal at the next conference in Beijing in 2020.

Conservationists are desperate for a biodiversity accord that will carry the same weight as the Paris climate agreement. But so far, this subject has received miserably little attention even though many scientists say it poses at least an equal threat to humanity.

The last two major biodiversity agreements – in 2002 and 2010 – have failed to stem the worst loss of life on Earth since the demise of the dinosaurs.

Eight years ago, under the Aichi Protocol, nations promised to at least halve the loss of natural habitats, ensure sustainable fishing in all waters, and expand nature reserves from 10% to 17% of the world’s land by 2020. But many nations have fallen behind, and those that have created more protected areas have done little to police them. “Paper reserves” can now be found from Brazil to China.

The issue is also low on the political agenda. Compared to climate summits, few heads of state attend biodiversity talks. Even before Donald Trump, the US refused to ratify the treaty and only sends an observer. Along with the Vatican, it is the only UN state not to participate.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cristiana Paşca Palmer, the UN’s biodiversity chief. Photograph: Herman njoroge chege/IISD/ENB

Pașca Palmer says there are glimmers of hope. Several species in Africa and Asia have recovered (though most are in decline) and forest cover in Asia has increased by 2.5% (though it has decreased elsewhere at a faster rate). Marine protected areas have also widened.

But overall, she says, the picture is worrying. The already high rates of biodiversity loss from habitat destruction, chemical pollution and invasive species will accelerate in the coming 30 years as a result of climate change and growing human populations. By 2050, Africa is expected to lose 50% of its birds and mammals, and Asian fisheries to completely collapse. The loss of plants and sea life will reduce the Earth’s ability to absorb carbon, creating a vicious cycle.

Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds Read more

“The numbers are staggering,” says the former Romanian environment minister. “I hope we aren’t the first species to document our own extinction.”

Despite the weak government response to such an existential threat, she said her optimism about what she called “the infrastructure of life” was undimmed.

One cause for hope was a convergence of scientific concerns and growing interest from the business community. Last month, the UN’s top climate and biodiversity institutions and scientists held their first joint meeting. They found that nature-based solutions – such as forest protection, tree planting, land restoration and soil management – could provide up to a third of the carbon absorption needed to keep global warming within the Paris agreement parameters. In future the two UN arms of climate and biodiversity should issue joint assessments. She also noted that although politics in some countries were moving in the wrong direction, there were also positive developments such as French president, Emmanuel Macron, recently being the first world leader to note that the climate issue cannot be solved without a halt in biodiversity loss. This will be on the agenda of the next G7 summit in France.

“Things are moving. There is a lot of goodwill,” she said. “We should be aware of the dangers but not paralysed by inaction. It’s still in our hands but the window for action is narrowing. We need higher levels of political and citizen will to support nature.”

CautiousIndication on November 3rd, 2018 at 12:23 UTC »

Okay, what the fuck can I, as an individual, actually fucking do?

Lord_Skellig on November 3rd, 2018 at 11:21 UTC »

TL;DR: Direct action. Parliament Square, London is being shut down on 17th of Nov.

To anyone who is feeling depressed, hopeless or anxious at the state of the world.

Every day now we are hearing messages about inarguable and inescapable fact that we are doing colossal damage to the Earth. However, this is not yet beyond the point of no return. The latest UN report says that we have 12 years left before such an inescapable tipping point. However, if we are to be saved, we need immediate, drastic action.

Out politicians have shown themselves to be either unable or unwilling to take the issue seriously. In the US, Trump is promising to reignite coal production, and has stripped away the EPA protections. In the UK, May has just approved major fracking operations, despite the dire warnings of scientists, and Bolsonaro in Brazil has plans to unleash the logging companies on the Amazon, which produces a fifth of the world's oxygen.

We need direct action on this cause. We have tried petitions. We have tried writing letters to politicians. We have tried voting for those who promised environmental action, only to find that they are impotent in the face of the influence and economic power of the private companies who stand to benefit from its destruction.

We need mass civil disobedience. Labour strikes, rent strikes, general strikes, shutdowns of major cities. In the UK, the group Extinction Rebellion has started taking action in the capital, causing disruption. For the first time that I can remember, this has the backing of politicians, with MEPs and heads of universities advocating breaking the law to save our planet.

They are planning a series of escalating, non-violent, acts of civil disobedience in the capital from the 12th of November, culminating in the shutting down of Parliament Square on the 17th.

For those in the US: Find out what actions are going on in your state. I guarantee there are millions of people just as angry as you. Anger needs an organisation. Anger is a chaotic steam, with a co-ordinated group as the piston, it can change worlds.

These are depressing times, but depression will not change the world. There is literally no issue more important. We have done nothing for too long. What will you do to change? Answer this question. How will you spread the message? Everything else is meaningless. Fight for it. Choose life.

markhomer2002 on November 3rd, 2018 at 10:56 UTC »

Literally every authority "Naaaaa"