biodiversity News
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What next for biodiversity protection in the EU?
The European Commission marked the opening of the International Year of Biodiversity with a paper setting out future options for biodiversity policy. Despite past efforts, species extinctions are continuing at alarming rates, and a new vision is required to halt these losses. The Communication sets out a vision and outlines four possible targets to reach it, with different levels of ambition. The ...
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Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is our life.
To celebrate the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity on 11 January, the European Environment Agency (EEA) is commencing a series of concise, thematic assessments of biodiversity. The first of these '10 messages for 2010' presents the interaction between climate change and biodiversity. Biodiversity embraces the variety of genes, species and ecosystems that constitute life on Earth. ...
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World Oceans Day - our oceans - opportunities and challenges
Billions of dollars and thousands of lives can be saved if we address the loss of marine and coastal biodiversity and ecosystem services through improved ...
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Trondheim: Countdown 2010 partner city hosts high-level conference on biodiversity
29 October 2007. Trondheim, Norway. The Fifth Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity opened with a clear commitment from the city of Trondheim to the 2010 biodiversity target. Ms. Rita Ottervik, Mayor of Trondheim, signed the Countdown 2010 declaration in the presence of, among others, Ms. Heidi Sørensen, Norway’s State Secretary of Environment, Marina Silva, Brazil’s Minister of the Environment ...
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Statement by Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Environment, on the outcome of Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP12)
The European Commission welcomes the successful outcome of CBD COP12 and in particular the agreement reached on 2020 targets for the mobilisation of resources in support of biodiversity. The agreement reaffirms the political commitment made at COP11 in Hyderabad, India, to double international biodiversity-related resource flows to developing countries by 2015. This is a very ambitious target ...
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A major new study on the economic consequences of ecosystem decline
The initial results of a major new study on the economic impacts of biodiversity loss were presented in Bonn last week, at 9th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biodiversity. The study, known as The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) was presented by economist Pavan Sukhdev of Deutsche Bank. TEEB was commissioned by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Stavros ...
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ReSAC and Biodiversity and Ecosystems projects
ReSAC participation in two projects, which are financed by Program BG03 “Biodiversity and Ecosystems” and co-financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM 2009-2014) GRASSLAND: Assessment and mapping of GRASSLANDecosystems condition and their services in Bulgaria, Contr. Д-33-90/03.09.2015 The project will contribute to the overall objectives of ...
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Preserving biodiversity `protects drylands`
The impacts of climate change and desertification on drylands could be reduced by preserving biodiversity, one of the first studies to look at dryland biodiversity and ecosystems has found. This, in turn, would help protect the livelihoods of more than a third of the global population. Drylands occupy more than 40 per cent of the global land surface. They host around a fifth of the major ...
By SciDev.Net
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The global cost of biodiversity loss: 14 trillion Euros?
Although some success has been achieved in meeting the global target of reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity by 20101, a new report suggests that biodiversity will continue to decline, adversely affecting the health of associated ecosystems. By not meeting the 2010 targets, the report estimates the cumulative loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services between 2000 and 2050, could ...
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Banks at risk from environmentally unfriendly companies
That is the view held by the majority of banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) surveyed for Biodiversity, the Next Challenge for Financial Institutions published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) this month. Ivo Mulder, the report's author, said: 'Continuous decline of global species diversity is not only leading to more concerned conservationists - the private sector is also ...
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Biodiversity loss and climate change: the need for an ecosystem approach
Biodiversity loss and climate change are now a part of our lives. Both are rooted in overexploitation of natural resources. Both require a coherent policy response. The Syracuse Charter and the Athens Conference underline the strong political commitment to take action. To ensure our society and economy have a healthy future, we need a way to assess our impacts on the natural world. The European ...
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Europe must grasp the true value of biodiversity
Europe clears forests, ploughs fields, drains wetlands and builds cities and roads, often at the expense of natural ecosystems. But how much does our current consumption and production affect the integrity of ecosystems? How much and how fast is the loss of biodiversity in Europe? The European Environment Agency (EEA) has provided some answers to these questions at a high-level conference ...
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‘Soft’ flood defences to protect riverside biodiversity
Riversides that are unprotected by flood defences are home to more diverse plant communities, according to a new study. According to the researchers of the study, ‘soft’ approaches to flood management, which work in harmony with natural processes, could help promote biodiversity in flood-prone regions. Many studies have highlighted the benefits that biodiversity provides for human ...
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World Conservation Union calls for decisive action on climate change and biodiversity at the UN
Launching negotiations in Bali to fight climate change and its impacts, acting decisively to achieve the 2010 biodiversity target, and integrating environmental sustainability into development were among the main issues the World Conservation Union (IUCN) called for at the United Nations General Assembly on 31 October 2007. Speaking about sustainable development at the UN General Assembly, IUCN ...
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Report shows 15% of terrestrial and 7% of marine areas now covered by protected areas
Around 15% of the world’s terrestrial area is better safeguarded by conservation measures, as well as over 7% of the world’s oceans, ensuring the world is on track to meet important conservation targets, according to the latest Protected Planet Report. The Protected Planet Report 2018 reviews the progress of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, which aims for the ...
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Europe is on its way to missing its biodiversity target
Action Plan, EEB, Europe’s largest federation of environmental citizens’ organisations, is calling for a rescue plan to avert the planetary bankruptcy that will occur if biodiversity loss continues. Pieter de Pous, EEB Biodiversity Policy Officer, said: “Now that the world is fully aware of the dangers of spending financial resources we don’t have, it’s time to wake up to a much greater danger: ...
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Paraguayan Ambassador Visits Cranfield
Cranfield University was delighted to welcome the Paraguayan Ambassador, Miguel Angel Solano López and the CEO of the Association Guyra Paraguay, Dr Alberto Yanosky to its campus on Friday (30 November) to meet with Cranfield academics involved in international research into biodiversity and ecosystem services. The visit follows a presentation in Brazil by Cranfield’s Dr Humberto ...
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Improving the United Nations governance for the environment
IUCN stressed the urgency of taking the necessary actions to get an international governance system suitable to respond to unprecedented challenges before us: biodiversity loss, degradation of the world’s ecosystems, desertification, and climate change, among others. Sustainable development needs to be effectively the overarching framework for the work of the United Nations, said Narinder Kakar, ...
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Biodiversity beyond 2010: deciding the way ahead
World leaders and policymakers are gathering at a major conference in Japan to debate how to halt global biodiversity loss. At this 10th Conference of the Parties (COP-10), the European Environment Agency is presenting its assessments on Europe’s biodiversity, including its new report on the EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline. The European Union made a commitment in 2001 to halt biodiversity ...
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Launch of the first online Global Freshwater Biodiversity Atlas
A new online Atlas of freshwater biodiversity presenting spatial information and species distribution patterns was launched today. The Atlas is an output of BioFresh, an EU-funded project supported by Wetlands International that is putting together the widely dispersed information about life in our rivers and lakes, to better understand, manage and protect our freshwaters for generations to come. ...
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