Biodiversity will rise as an international priority

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Climate Crisis

Significance No substantive agreements emerged. Global targets to limit biodiversity loss were agreed in 2010, but all were missed and biodiversity loss has accelerated. The 'Kunming Declaration' does indicate some political will, but any enforceable delivery plans will have to wait for the second part of COP15 next year. Impacts The global biodiversity crisis is arguably as serious and pressing as the climate crisis. The low profile of COP15 shows that the severity of the problem is not yet widely recognised. The goal of making 30% of earth's land and seas 'protected' by 2030 provides new focus; disputes will focus on what it actually means. As host, Beijing will want to demonstrate success and will put pressure on other governments. Biodiversity is difficult even to measure, making is extremely challenging to create clear structures for accountable implementation.

Biodiversity hinges on China conference

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Environmental Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Global Biodiversity

Significance The meeting will set a new Global Biodiversity Framework and agree targets to be met by 2030. Scientists and civil society organisations consider it an opportunity to set in train the political leadership and public engagement needed to address the urgent global biodiversity crisis. Impacts China has an opportunity to show leadership on global environmental governance and to showcase its biodiversity conservation achievements. The BRI will face criticism for the biodiversity impacts of its infrastructure projects overseas. Financing arrangements for implementing any agreements will be crucial, and difficult to agree.

scholarly journals Reversing global biodiversity declines: Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into decision-making at national and local scales

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Rhema Bjorkland ◽  
Ronald Bjorkland
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Global Biodiversity

The rapid and unprecedented global loss of biodiversity threatens the wide-ranging goods and services that nature provides, endangers human institutions, and portends future scenarios of human-nature relationships that differ significantly from what humans have experienced historically. While numerous national and international responses have been put in place to stem this loss, none have succeeded in significantly reducing its rate. Reasons for these failures are not uniform, but some key identified features include inadequate funding and logistical support, structural weaknesses in targeted actions, and the socio-political systems that interfere with needed transformative changes. This article provides a brief historical background to global-level biodiversity conservation efforts and suggests pathways needed to move forward if the proposed vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature” by 2050 is to be realized. Framing socio-economic and cultural development within the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, and not the other way around, represents the most likely path to success. This effort will require strong actions from communities and institutions, from local to global, to end the disconnect between global targets, national commitments, and local actions; reformed mechanisms for funding and other support; and radically improved strategies to galvanize both political will and public support through improved communication.

Reversing global biodiversity declines: Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into decision-making at national and local scales

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Rhema Bjorkland ◽  
Ronald Bjorkland
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Global Biodiversity

The rapid and unprecedented global loss of biodiversity threatens the wide-ranging goods and services that nature provides, endangers human institutions, and portends future scenarios of human-nature relationships that differ significantly from what humans have experienced historically. While numerous national and international responses have been put in place to stem this loss, none have succeeded in significantly reducing its rate. Reasons for these failures are not uniform, but some key identified features include inadequate funding and logistical support, structural weaknesses in targeted actions, and the socio-political systems that interfere with needed transformative changes. This article provides a brief historical background to global-level biodiversity conservation efforts and suggests pathways needed to move forward if the proposed vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature” by 2050 is to be realized. Framing socio-economic and cultural development within the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, and not the other way around, represents the most likely path to success. This effort will require strong actions from communities and institutions, from local to global, to end the disconnect between global targets, national commitments, and local actions; reformed mechanisms for funding and other support; and radically improved strategies to galvanize both political will and public support through improved communication.

scholarly journals A return-on-investment approach for prioritization of rigorous taxonomic research needed to inform responses to the biodiversity crisis

PLoS Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. e3001210
Author(s):  
Jane Melville ◽  
David G. Chapple ◽  
J. Scott Keogh ◽  
Joanna Sumner ◽  
Andrew Amey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Return On Investment ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Undescribed Species ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Species Of Conservation Concern ◽  
Taxonomic Uncertainty ◽  
Taxonomic Research ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Conservation Concern

Global biodiversity loss is a profound consequence of human activity. Disturbingly, biodiversity loss is greater than realized because of the unknown number of undocumented species. Conservation fundamentally relies on taxonomic recognition of species, but only a fraction of biodiversity is described. Here, we provide a new quantitative approach for prioritizing rigorous taxonomic research for conservation. We implement this approach in a highly diverse vertebrate group—Australian lizards and snakes. Of 870 species assessed, we identified 282 (32.4%) with taxonomic uncertainty, of which 17.6% likely comprise undescribed species of conservation concern. We identify 24 species in need of immediate taxonomic attention to facilitate conservation. Using a broadly applicable return-on-investment framework, we demonstrate the importance of prioritizing the fundamental work of identifying species before they are lost.

scholarly journals Biological Control and Insect Pathology

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 291
Author(s):  
Eustachio Tarasco ◽  
Francesca De Luca
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Insect Pathology ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Agro Forestry

Agro-forestry intensification is one of the main drivers of the global biodiversity crisis and decline in arthropods and particularly insects [...]

scholarly journals Above- and belowground biodiversity jointly tighten the P cycle in agricultural grasslands

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Oelmann ◽  
Markus Lange ◽  
Sophia Leimer ◽  
Christiane Roscher ◽  
Felipe Aburto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Management Intensity ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Grassland Productivity ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Diverse Plant ◽  
Management Effects ◽  
P Cycle

AbstractExperiments showed that biodiversity increases grassland productivity and nutrient exploitation, potentially reducing fertiliser needs. Enhancing biodiversity could improve P-use efficiency of grasslands, which is beneficial given that rock-derived P fertilisers are expected to become scarce in the future. Here, we show in a biodiversity experiment that more diverse plant communities were able to exploit P resources more completely than less diverse ones. In the agricultural grasslands that we studied, management effects either overruled or modified the driving role of plant diversity observed in the biodiversity experiment. Nevertheless, we show that greater above- (plants) and belowground (mycorrhizal fungi) biodiversity contributed to tightening the P cycle in agricultural grasslands, as reduced management intensity and the associated increased biodiversity fostered the exploitation of P resources. Our results demonstrate that promoting a high above- and belowground biodiversity has ecological (biodiversity protection) and economical (fertiliser savings) benefits. Such win-win situations for farmers and biodiversity are crucial to convince farmers of the benefits of biodiversity and thus counteract global biodiversity loss.

scholarly journals Personal Assessment of Reasons for the Loss of Global Biodiversity—an Empirical Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4277
Author(s):  
Matthias Winfried Kleespies ◽  
Paul Wilhelm Dierkes
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Connection To Nature ◽  
School Students ◽  
Teacher Trainees ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Personal Assessment

The UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs), which aim to solve important economic, social, and environmental problems of humanity, are to be supported by education for sustainable development (ESD). Empirical studies on the success of the implementation of the SDGs in the field of education are still pending. For this reason, using the loss of global biodiversity as an example, this study examined the extent to which high school students, teacher trainees in biology, and biology bachelor students can identify the causes of the global biodiversity loss. A new questioning tool was developed and tested on 889 participants. In addition, the relationship between connection to nature and the personal assessment about biodiversity threats was examined. The factor analysis of the scale used showed that 11 out of 16 items were assigned to the intended factor. The comparison between high school students, teacher trainees in biology, and biology bachelor students showed no significant difference in overall assessment of the reasons for global biodiversity loss. When comparing the three risk levels in which the risk factors for biodiversity could be divided, across the three student groups, only minor differences were found. Therefore, a specific education of prospective teachers is necessary, as they have to pass on the competence as multipliers to their students. No significant difference could be found when examining the relationship between connection to nature and the overall scores of the assessment scale for the reasons of biodiversity loss. However, it was found that people who felt more connected to nature were more capable of assessing the main causes of risk for global biodiversity, while people who felt less connected to nature achieved better scores for the medium factors.

scholarly journals Terrestrial Vertebrate Biodiversity Loss under Future Global Land Use Change Scenarios

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Chaudhary ◽  
Arne Mooers
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
National Development ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
Diversity Loss ◽  
Global Biodiversity

Efficient forward-looking mitigation measures are needed to halt the global biodiversity decline. These require spatially explicit scenarios of expected changes in multiple indicators of biodiversity under future socio-economic and environmental conditions. Here, we link six future (2050 and 2100) global gridded maps (0.25° × 0.25° resolution) available from the land use harmonization (LUH) database, representing alternative concentration pathways (RCP) and shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs), with the countryside species–area relationship model to project the future land use change driven rates of species extinctions and phylogenetic diversity loss (in million years) for mammals, birds, and amphibians in each of the 804 terrestrial ecoregions and 176 countries and compare them with the current (1900–2015) and past (850–1900) rates of biodiversity loss. Future land-use changes are projected to commit an additional 209–818 endemic species and 1190–4402 million years of evolutionary history to extinction by 2100 depending upon the scenario. These estimates are driven by land use change only and would likely be higher once the direct effects of climate change on species are included. Among the three taxa, highest diversity loss is projected for amphibians. We found that the most aggressive climate mitigation scenario (RCP2.6 SSP-1), representing a world shifting towards a radically more sustainable path, including increasing crop yields, reduced meat production, and reduced tropical deforestation coupled with high trade, projects the lowest land use change driven global biodiversity loss. The results show that hotspots of future biodiversity loss differ depending upon the scenario, taxon, and metric considered. Future extinctions could potentially be reduced if habitat preservation is incorporated into national development plans, especially for biodiverse, low-income countries such as Indonesia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Philippines, and The Democratic Republic of Congo that are otherwise projected to suffer a high number of land use change driven extinctions under all scenarios.

scholarly journals Habitat Protection Indexes - new monitoring measures for the conservation of coastal and marine habitats

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy A Kumagai ◽  
Fabio Favoretto ◽  
Sara Pruckner ◽  
Alex David Rogers ◽  
Lauren V Weatherdon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Habitat Protection ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Do So

A worldwide call to implement habitat protection aims to halt biodiversity loss. To monitor the extent of coastal and marine habitats within protected areas (PAs) in a standardized, open source, and reproducible way, we constructed the Local and the Global Habitat Protection Indexes (LHPI and GHPI, respectively). The LHPI pinpoints the jurisdictions with the greatest opportunity to expand their own PAs, while the GHPI showcases which jurisdictions contribute the most in area to the protection of these habitats globally. Jurisdictions were evaluated to understand which have the highest opportunity to contribute globally to the protection of habitats by meeting a target of 30% coverage of PAs with Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) having the greatest opportunity to do so. While we focus on marine and coastal habitats, our workflow can be extended to terrestrial and freshwater habitats. These indexes are useful to monitor aspects of Sustainable Development Goal 14 and the emerging post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, to understand the current status of international cooperation on coastal and marine habitats conservation.

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