UNEP launches 2010 Biodiversity initiative

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has inaugurated a multi-million dollar effort to track the fate and fortune of the world's biological diversity, the UN agency said in a media communiqué is

sued here Wednesday.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), The 2010 Biodiversity Indicator Partnership aims to complete a set of indicators that will allow the international community to better assess whether conservation efforts are succeeding towards the target of “reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010”.

Under the new US$8.8 million partnership, which has secured over US$3.6 million from the GEF, a wider range of existing and new indicators will be brought together to gain greater and deeper insight into whe

ther the 2010 Biodiversity Target is on course.

"This new partnership helps ensure that the bar is raised around the globe for accounting for biodiversity loss," GEF chief executive officer, Monique Barbut, said in the communiqué.

The official said the biodiversity challenge was "no less urgent a public issue than the climate change crisis", adding that the move would "help move biodiversity to the front burner and help ignite policy makers to take informed action."

"It is more important than ever for the biodiversity community to elevate its discourse and to reinforce the relevance of biodiversity conservation to sustainable economic development in the 21st Century,"

she a

dded.

Several indicators already exist which are giving an insight into how well the world is addressing the biodiversity challenge.

According to the UNEP, The Red List of Threatened Species, compiled by IUCN- the World Conservation Union- estimates that nearly one in four mammals, one in three amphibians, and one in eight birds is threatened with extinction.

The main d

riving force is human impact ranging from deforestation and pollution to over-exploitat

ion for food and as part of the illegal wildlife trade.

Protected areas, consider

ed an important strategy for conservation of plants and animals, also contribute to another of the biodiversity indicators while at the same time forming part of assessment of the success of the UN's Millennium Development Goals.

The Goals, due to be met by 2015, cover poverty eradication up to the provision of safe and sufficient drinking water.

The indicator of P

rot

ected Areas shows that around 12 percent of the Earth's land surface is currently covered by more than 105,000 protected areas.

However, the area of

sea and ocean under protection is relatively tiny: just 0.6 percent of the ocean's surface area and 1.4 percent of coastal shelf areas are protected.

Other existing indicators include forest cover and the generation of nitrogen from sources such as fossil fuel burning

, industry and fertilizer, which can impact on biodiversity and wildlife habitats.

Some of the new indicators, emerging from a list chosen by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), inclu

de threats to biodiversity; the degree to which forests, farmlands and fisheries are managed in a way that protects biodiversity; the extent to which people are affected by changes in biodiversity and the contribution of traditional knowledge to the biodiversity target.

There will also b

e a focus on the components of biodiversity including genes, species and ecosystems.

Several of the new indicators will require a comprehensive gathering of data exercise including trends in the spread of invasive alien species and trends in the health and well being of communities dependent on the goods and services provided by local ecosystems.

Nairobi - 18/07/2007