Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 10 • 27th May 2005
Biodiversity Day Marked by New Ecosystems Report
Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say
The theme of the 22 May International Day for Biological Diversity, “Biodiversity: life insurance for our changing world”, was reflected in speeches from world leaders and in a new study released for the occasion from the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The study, entitled “Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Biodiversity Synthesis”, is the second of a set of seven studies from the MA that examine changes to the earth’s ecosystems and their impacts on humans (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 1 April 2005). It suggests that human activities such as habitat conversion, climate change, pollution and over-exploitation of resources are largely to blame for alarming rates of biodiversity loss and are likely to continue or worsen in the future. It also notes that there may be both trade-offs and synergies between poverty and conservation targets. Trade-offs could include, for example, the adverse impact on biodiversity of rural road networks that are essential for economic development. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Millenium Development Project (MDP), criticised the report’s discussion of trade-offs, describing the idea as “naïve” and a “non-debate” because it could rekindle historical debates between environmentalists and those working in development. “All of us now agree that poor people depend on the health of ecosystems to survive,” he noted, adding that environmental sustainability is on a par with the other Millenium Development Goals. Environmentalists and some of the writers of the MA-CBD report, however, have challenged the conclusions of the MDP report that said that significant increase in development aid and infrastructure spending was needed in developing countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 21 January 2005). They have suggested that some of the infrastructure investments or increased agricultural productivity recommended in the MDP report could have adverse impacts on biodiversity.
To access the MA-CBD report visit http://www.biodiv.org/doc/press/2005/pr-2005-05-18-ibd-en.pdf
“Protecting Biodiversity ‘May Clash With Pursuit Of MDGs’,” SCIDEV.NET, 19 May 2005; “World’s Biodiversity Declining At An Alarming Rate,” ENN, 23 May 2005.
Add a comment
Enter your details and a comment below, then click Submit Comment. We’ll review and publish the best comments.