Governments not on track towards 2010, reports WWF
Governments are not on track to meet the 2010 biodiversity target, according to the report 2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge recently published by WWF.
The study measures trends in the state of global biodiversity and the human demand on the biosphere using the two indicators adopted by the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) to. The first (called LPI, or Living Planet Index) assesses the state of global biodiversity through measurement of the population trends of species from around the world. The second (the Ecological Footprint) measures human demands on the biosphere to produce resources and absorb carbon dioxide.
The preliminary results of the assessment, which will be finalized in 2010, are dismal. Future generations face hunger, thirst, disease and disaster if we carry on trashing the environment, reads a WWF press release. “No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming”, comments James Leape, WWF International’s Director General.
During the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity Ninth Meeting (CBD COP 9) in Bonn, 19-30 May 2008, WWF called on governments to make the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity a political priority.
“WWF is calling on all the governments that signed the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 to do what they gave their word they would do: implement the Strategic Plan by establishing national targets and allocating sufficient financial, human and technical resources,” explained WWF’s International Policy Director, Gordon Shepherd.
“In particular environment ministries must work for the active support and involvement of ministers with a mutual interest in saving biodiversity such as those responsible for development, finance, agriculture, fisheries and climate.”
