"The challenges of biodiversity - beyond the internationale year 2010"
UNESCO Future Lecture

International Year of Biodiversity in 2010
"Biodiversity: Save it, Support it, Share it"

UNESCO Future Lecture">

• © UNESCO/Inès Forbes
• Orakei Koraki/ New Zealand

The next edition of the UNESCO Future Lecture will be held on 3 November 2009 from 5 pm to 6.30 pm at the UNESCO Headquarters in Room IV with Hubert Reeves.

All over the planet, biodiversity – the diversity of life, from bacteria to plants and animals, from genes to species and ecosystems – is declining. In a matter of decades, the human alterations and destructions of natural ecosystems – in particular primary forests, tropical forests, wetlands, mangroves, lakes, rivers, seas and oceans – have reached a daunting pace. According to estimates, the number of known species – and we do not know all of them – has declined by 40% since the 1970s. Since 2000, primary forests have been losing 6 million hectares each year. Around 20% of coral reefs have been destroyed notably through pollution and overfishing. 25% of all known species could be extinct by 2050. Many scientists believe life on Earth is on the verge of a massive extinction phase.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment released by the United Nations in 2005 estimated current rates of species extinction at up to 1,000 times what are estimated to be natural levels. Just like climate change, which is going to aggravate biodiversity loss and is aggravated by it, the trouble is the accelerated rate of the phenomenon – and our collective blindness to it. Earth is evolving towards a state that may not sustain us. There is a limit to the wreckage we can inflict on the environments we depend upon.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, humankind has treated natural resources as if they were in infinite supply. Worryingly, it did not occur to most people that biodiversity is a resource. Biodiversity supports a number of natural ecosystem processes and services, such as air quality, climate regulation, water purification, pest and diseases control, pollination and prevention of erosion. Human well-being – and survival – is hardly conceivable without a thriving diversity of life. Food systems are heavily dependent on biodiversity and a considerable proportion of drugs are derived, directly or indirectly, from biological sources. Significant aspects of our economies also depend on biodiversity and it must be emphasized that the world’s poor are most at risk from the loss of biodiversity, because they are the ones that are most reliant on the ecosystem services that are being degraded. As a consequence, decreasing biodiversity will most likely have a negative impact the realization of the MDGs beyond the specific ecological goal. Last but not least, non-material benefits obtained from ecosystems cannot be overlooked, including spiritual and aesthetic values.

It is the complexity of these aspects of biodiversity that was recognized as a whole in 1972 when UNESCO pioneered two key initiatives: the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage that established natural ecosystems and landscapes as the common heritage of mankind and the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) which launched the creation of Biosphere reserves – 553 sites in 107 countries as of today – with three mutually reinforcing functions: conservation, sustainable development and logistic support for scientific research and education. Biodiversity is a global public good, as acknowledged twenty years later, in 1972, by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) with three its objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, its sustainable use and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.

In recent years, the main objective has been to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss – a goal that has proven quite challenging, from measuring the actual state of biodiversity to designing and implementing biodiversity-friendly policies and practices. In order to increase public awareness of the importance of biodiversity for all our well-being, the United Nations declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB). UNESCO, with its rich history in fostering biodiversity, will organize many events during 2010, including a travelling exhibition. Communicating is crucial: the ambition behind the IYB is to create catalyzing opportunities to raise awareness not just on the facts, but on the acts. Showcasing successful experiences in combating biodiversity loss or maintaining it sustainably will be essential in encouraging local, national regional or international projects to preserve and celebrate the diversity of life.

As a contribution to this series of events, Hubert Reeves has accepted our invitation to the next UNESCO Future Lecture to share with us his views on the dangers humanity faces if biodiversity continues to decrease. A Canadian astrophysicist, former adviser to NASA and renowned popularizer of science, Hubert Reeves recognize early that life is one rare thing in the universe, as best captured in Terracide: A physicist’s plea for the environment (2007; translation of Mal de Terre, 2003).