G8 leaders highlight critical importance of biodiversity
2 July 2010. At their annual summit, held on 25-26 June in Muskoka, Canada, leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) have again emphasized the critical importance of biodiversity to human well-being, sustainable development and poverty eradication, and highlighted the serious threat posed by the current rate of biodiversity loss.
Regretting that the international community is not on track to meeting its 2010 target to significantly reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity, G8 leaders underlined the importance of adopting an ambitious and achievable post-2010 framework.
In the G8 Muskoka Declaration, Recovery and New Beginning, leaders noted that:
“In 2010, the UN International Year of Biodiversity, we regret that the international community is not on track to meeting its 2010 target to significantly reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity globally. We recognize that the current rate of loss is a serious threat, since biologically diverse and resilient ecosystems are critical to human well being, sustainable development and poverty eradication. We underline our support for Japan as it prepares to host the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity this October and in particular we underline the importance of adopting an ambitious and achievable post-2010 framework. We recognize the need to strengthen the science-policy interface in this area, and in this regard we welcome the agreement to establish an Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).”
