Biodiversity Day 2022: UN Secretary-General Calls for ‘A Shared Future for All Life’

"Biodiversity is critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including ending the existential threat of climate change, halting land degradation, increasing food security, and advancing human health," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement.

UN Secretary-General emphasized that biodiversity provides solutions for green and inclusive growth and that governments will meet this year to agree on a global biodiversity framework with clear and measurable targets to put the planet back on track by 2030.

"The framework must address the drivers of biodiversity loss and enable the ambitious and transformative change required for living in harmony with nature by effectively protecting more of the world's land, freshwater, and oceans, encouraging sustainable consumption and production, implementing nature-based solutions to address climate change, and eliminating harmful subsidies that harm the environment," he said.

According to Guterres, the global agreement should also mobilize action and financial resources to drive concrete nature-positive investments, ensuring that we all benefit from biological diversity dividends.

"As we achieve these goals and implement the 2050 Vision for "living in harmony with nature," he emphasized, "We must act with respect for equity and human rights, particularly for the many indigenous populations whose territories contain so much biological diversity."

The UN Secretary-General stated that in order to save our planet's irreplaceable and fragile natural wealth, everyone must participate, including youth and vulnerable populations who rely the most on nature for a living.

"Today, I call on everyone to take action to create a shared future for all life," he concluded.

Building a shared future for all life is the International Day's focus this year, in line with the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Importance of Biodiversity:

Biological diversity resources are the foundations upon which civilizations are built. Fish provide 20% of animal protein to approximately 3 billion people; plants provide more than 80% of the human diet, and up to 80% of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant-based medicines for primary healthcare. Despite this, approximately 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.

The loss of biodiversity endangers everything, including our health. It has been demonstrated that biodiversity loss can lead to the spread of zoonoses (diseases transmitted from animals to humans), whereas biodiversity preservation provides excellent tools for combating pandemics such as those caused by coronaviruses.

If current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems are not addressed soon, progress toward 80 percent of the assessed targets of the eight Sustainable Development Goals will be hampered.

“We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.” - EO Wilson.

In my opinion, Climate change & biodiversity are both important issues that must be addressed. The loss of biodiversity is a problem not only for the environment, but also for the economy, security, morality, and ethics. The most significant challenge and opportunity is to alter one's approach to development. To protect the environment, people must switch to clean technologies. Finally, the world must come together to reach a global agreement to save the environment.

(Source: UN)