By Ban Ki-Moon
Tomorrow is the International Day for Biological Diversity.
Biodiversity is the foundation of life on earth and one of the
pillars of sustainable development.
The richness and variety of life on earth make possible the
ecosystem on which we depend: for clean water, food, shelter,
medicine and clothing. Environments rich in biodiversity are
resilient when stricken by natural disaster.
All this is of particular importance for the poorest citizens of
our world. Those who live on only a few dollars a day need
biodiversity to meet their basic needs. Without the conservation
and sustainable use of biodiversity, we will not achieve the UN
Millennium Development Goals.
However, biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate.
This, in turn, is seriously eroding the capacity of our planet to
sustain life. It is for this reason that leaders attending the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002
agreed to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of
biodiversity by 2010.
This commitment was reiterated at the 2005 World Summit. The
2010 biodiversity target is now fully integrated into the framework
of the Millennium Development Goals. As a sign of further support,
the international community decided to declare 2010 the
International Year for Biological Diversity.
As the world focuses more attention on climate change, the links
between climate change and biodiversity are being articulated. The
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, "a state-of-the-art appraisal of
the world's ecosystems and the services they provide", has
identified climate change as one of the biggest causes of our
planet's loss of biodiversity, along with changing land use
patterns.
In addition, the recently released report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it crystal clear
that climate change is real and will continue to affect our lives
and ecosystems for many years to come. The impacts will include the
extinction of ever increasing numbers of species, further weakening
a number of already fragile ecosystems.
It is therefore timely that the theme of this year's observance
of the International Day for Biological Diversity is "Biodiversity
and Climate Change".
Indeed, the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is
an essential element of any strategy to adapt to climate change.
For example, mangrove forests and other coastal wetlands represent
a bulwark against extreme weather events and rising sea levels.
As agricultural landscapes become warmer and drier, the
diversity of livestock and cereal crops can provide farmers with
options to cope with new conditions. Forests, peat lands and other
ecosystems contribute to sequestering carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, thereby helping to mitigate increases in greenhouse gas
emissions.
Through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the international
community is committed to conserving biodiversity and combating
climate change. The global response to these challenges needs to
move much more rapidly and with more determination at all levels -
global, national and local.
For the sake of current and future generations, we must achieve
the goals of these landmark instruments.
The author is Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2007)
