In order to celebrate International Biodiversity Day in 2020 on 20 May, the Youth Network of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme has prepared a set of stories on the importance of biodiversity from the perspective of young people in biosphere reserves. In the articles that follow, representatives from around the world give us an insightful overview of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
When someone asks me about my work, I tell them I am a research and monitoring officer. When they ask ‘where?’, I reply, the Shouf Biosphere Reserve – one of 701 biosphere reserves that belong to UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme. And when the final question comes – ‘what does that mean, what do you do?’ – I reply simply: ‘I live’. I am part of a whole ecosystem and I live as sustainably as I can, in harmony with nature.
My work includes: 
- studying the local environment to implement nature-based solutions
- protecting nature, biodiversity and wildlife
- planning for and sustainably managing forests, biomass and water
- supporting farmers in restoring their lands and planting in a sustainable manner
- preserving the traditions of ancestors and producing healthy local products
- conducting environmental awareness sessions, and
- empowering and engaging with youth and women.
This worldview started because of my grandfather. Grandpas occupy a special place in our hearts, and mine used to tell me, ‘Our nature is our home. As long as we conserve it, we will live a sustainable, healthy and happy life’. His words and our long days spent together on the land planting and harvesting crops, learning about plant and animal species, watching bees pollinate fruit blossoms, camping in the forest under the stars, learning about life in the ocean, and the use of herbs as medicines, and, most of all, his passion and love for everything alive, resonated in me and enhanced my bond with the environment around me.
I majored in Biology, Earth and Life Science and completed a thesis on the economic value of the forest ecosystem in Lebanon for a Research MA in Environmental Engineering. My studies in science taught me the same lesson my grandfather showed me by living: biodiversity is the basis of a wide range of ecosystem services.
In 2017, I joined a committed youth team working at the Shouf Biosphere Reserve. As a research, monitoring and proposal writing officer, I find myself consistently captivated by the intersection of environment and the community, and amazed by more than 1,070 flora species within the biosphere. I coordinate different projects that focus on strengthening the resilience of Mediterranean landscapes to climate change. I also organize community-related activities to encourage a shift towards positive environmental engagement and raise environmental awareness about different topics including biodiversity conservation.
In our biosphere reserve, we apply the seven principles of forest landscape restoration to restore the ecosystem. We engage with the local community, including women, youth, people with special needs and refugees, and raise environmental awareness about different topics including biodiversity conservation, where continuous monitoring work is implemented. We practice sustainable forest management which includes thinning of the forests to decrease the risk of fire and increase biodiversity. We implement biomass management, where part of the biomass collected from the pruned forests is used to produce eco-briquettes and compost. We also apply water management to gain benefits from collecting rainwater and snow melt. Through sustainable agriculture, farmers are trained how to restore old abandoned terraces through organic plantation with economic value species. Lastly, we promote ecotourism activities such as hiking, biking, and getting to know Lebanese heritage and culture by visiting villages and enjoying traditional food at guesthouses.
Biodiversity is the web of life, a web upon which we fully depend and are an integrated part. Just as my grandpa believed that he borrowed Earth from us – the future generation – rather than inheriting it from his ancestors, I dream that every one of us will act to conserve biodiversity and the planet we live on. This year we have an opportunity as a global community to re-examine our relationship with the natural world, to reflect on challenges and accomplishments, and to renew our determination to overcome the environmental challenges facing the world.
So, join our youth network and help us advocate to conserve biodiversity. Take the initiative today to live in a sustainable way and conserve the web of life for us and future generations.
My name is Vusi Tshabalala from South Africa. I was born and raised in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve in a township called Nkowa-nkowa of Limpopo province. Growing up I always loved visiting my grandfather’s home in the school holidays. He had a small farm with a variety of animals. He was also a hunter, while my grandmother was a traditional herbalist. Getting away from the city and visiting this quiet rural life was paradise for me. I loved spending time with the cattle and donkeys. Whenever I was herding them time didn’t matter. I would even forget about hunger or bathing until I returned home. I learned from my grandfather that the best way to become a friend to an animal is to spend time with it. He brushed all his cows daily and spent hours talking to them one by one. I also enjoyed watching him fish in the river where hippos swam. If you respect the animals and give them their space then you have nothing to fear he would say; they will do the same to you.
As a young herder, I also learned a lot about trees. We ate wild fruits provided by the bush that many kids today know nothing about, as herding is seen as a thing of the past and an occupation for the poor. We learned about which wood to collect for fire and which to avoid, as the smoke can give you diarrhoea, drug or even kill you. Whenever we were sick my grandmother never gave us pills or modern medicine; instead, nature provided remedies through leaves, bark and roots. She would make very bitter drinks and sometimes make us inhale smoke from certain plants while covered with a blanket. At the time it seemed like torture, but as I grew, I came to understand its importance, as many people came for help, as even today, traditional medicine can heal many sicknesses that cannot be cured by Western medicine. These are great memories that I cherish and they paved a way for my career in conservation. Experiencing the loss of biodiversity first-hand and watching it change and fade before my eyes made me want to study nature conservation after finishing high school.
However, In the two years before I completed school, I witnessed conflict between people and wildlife, serious water pollution, over-harvesting of natural resources and incursions by alien plants. These impacts were felt but not understood. When I asked my uncles if there was a police force for nature, or someone to give nature a voice, they said yes, but that no-one takes them seriously due to more pressing concerns. That was when my calling started. I was going to be that voice; I would become a researcher to understand the ripple effects of our actions and educate my people, while providing solutions. Little did I know that platforms like biosphere reserves existed which allow people to do just that – simply by acting as a neutral space of engagement and a bridge linking people with natural resources.
Through my biosphere reserve I can enjoy the benefits of protecting our biodiversity, while doing what I love the most. Being surrounded by nature reserves such as the Kruger National Park, only 20 km from my home, among mountains with clean, freshwater springs, varieties of plant species found only in our area and different animal sounds calling through the night – and being part of a team that helps people understand and enjoy these natural systems – is the best gift that mother nature could give me. The only thing missing was my own herd, which is why I started a horse-riding school in the heart of my village. Seeing a horse up close for the first time is a dream come true for many. All I wish is for every child to have the chance to experience what I learned as a young boy, because you never know how good or tough something is until you are exposed to it. As a young leader this is my vision for all and more.
If the crisis caused by the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that collaborative, supportive societies that are flexible and adaptable are much more resilient to external events than individualistic societies whose desire to survive and self-perpetuate is indifferent to the well-being of people who may be living in precarious situations. This is a new learning experience for us. Humanity has not faced such an invisible but powerful enemy since the Spanish Flu epidemic at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Today, we are vulnerable and mostly locked up in our homes, taking countless precautionary measures when we need to go out whether to stock up or work. This situation is new for us; however it is one that is already familiar to our biodiversity.
Habitat loss and fragmentation is considered one of the main causes of the current biodiversity crisis. Advancing economic development, urbanization and pollution are transforming natural habitats rendering them unable to support their native species. The biodiversity that once thrived there is destroyed or forced to migrate. These vulnerable communities now isolate themselves in fear, and must take precautionary measures when going out to feed themselves and face this powerful enemy.
There is no need to fall into the cliché, ‘Humanity is the virus’, but this situation can help us reflect on how we are treating our environment. We are so used to looking at human beings and nature as different things that it is hard to think of ourselves as part of the natural world. We are just one more species and it is our responsibility to learn to co-exist collaboratively and in solidarity with all the species of fauna, flora or fungi that are around us. Instead of forcing our biodiversity to migrate and isolate itself, we must migrate towards more sustainable and innovative economic models and towards behaviours that are more empathetic towards our environment in order to live in harmony with nature.
Biosphere reserves are pioneers in this mission, promoting collaborative models where communities are protagonists in the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development, while protecting the natural heritage that is theirs and that of all humanity. In Chile, we are privileged to have ten biosphere reserves, each of which has a valuable identity and a rich biodiversity with a high percentage of endemism, resulting from the presence of natural frontiers such as the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
I belong to the Bosques Templados Lluviosos de los Andes Australes Biosphere Reserve, which is located at the entrance of Chilean Patagonia and houses one of the most intact forest remnants on Earth. The core areas of the reserve present a unique and largely unknown biodiversity. This is protected under Chilean legislation which designates these areas as national parks in order to prevent human intervention. For us, protecting biodiversity is not just about preserving ecosystems or maintaining ecosystem services, we do it to preserve and sustain our own history. We are privileged, yet still have challenges to meet, where the concepts of collaboration and flexibility can help us form more supportive and adaptive communities.
If the current circumstances have forced us to retreat, let it be to rethink the way we see the world. We need to confront the serious problems present on the planet in order to give our biodiversity a chance, and in the process, give ourselves a chance.
We, as part of the biosphere – of that majestic life layer of our planet that extends from the depths of the oceans to the highest mountain peaks – are not oblivious to all the dynamics that occur within it. Even after all the economic and technological developments that have occurred over the last century, a time during which we turned our backs on the environment, today, more than ever, we realize that our resilience depends on the relationship we have with nature; that the impacts on biodiversity know no borders, and have consequences at the global level; and that we live in a world that we do not possess, but rather share with other living beings, molecules, elements and atoms.
Those same ‘developments’ have allowed us to distance and separate ourselves from biodiversity and nature, and to believe that no matter what we do, that nature will continue to persist. However, biodiversity is reflected in our simplest genes to the most complex ecosystems. It does not take more than a few steps to find an unimaginable number of life forms. Microorganisms, fungi, plants and animals are present in our homes and surroundings, reminding us that without them we would not be alive today, even as many of us ignore them.
We have now reached the point of an insatiable economy in which even ethical and moral values can be bought. It has become necessary to put a price on all that nature does for us – what are referred to as ‘ecosystem services’ – in order to perceive the benefits of taking action for the sustainable management of biodiversity. Now that we recognize that biodiversity is fundamental to our existence, perhaps we will establish strategies to reduce the impacts we have generated, and find a path to guide us towards a more reciprocal relationship with nature.
We are convinced that the establishment of biosphere reserves is a starting point to generate change at a global level. We have seen it with our own eyes and cultivated it with our actions, within our families, groups of friends and communities, spreading the message about the need to change our way of thinking, and working hard to infect each person with the desire to protect life in its broadest sense. It is not necessary to take huge actions in order to achieve significant change. Often, we fail to make small changes in our daily lives because we believe that they won’t be visible or have a significant effect. However, our work in biosphere reserves has taught us that small good actions have a chain effect that translates into gigantic results.
If we could make all the people around the world reflect, for just a minute, on what biodiversity is and what it means for the planet, and think of a small action that they could carry out, we would be 8 billion minutes closer to living in harmony with nature’
As long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by biodiversity. When I was little, I used to sit at the windows for hours to watch birds feeding at the bird table in my garden. Growing up, my ambitions changed a few times, but I always knew that I wanted to do something related to biodiversity conservation. As a teen, I have had the good fortune to travel to many countries and discover the beauty of nature. I have also been faced with inequality – people living in the most amazing places but struggling to fulfil the most basic of needs. When I entered university, I took an interest in politics based on a desire to help make a change in the world. While navigating the academic world, my instincts led me to the MAB MSc. I did some research about the MAB Programme and everything fell into place. This was it. I did not have to choose between supporting people and nature, I could do both.
Being part of the MAB community is something that makes me very proud. Despite the name of the programme (Man and the Biosphere), MAB does not see human beings and nature as separate: we are all part of the same biosphere. This is why we place so much value on biodiversity. Ecosystems are not just habitats for birds and flowers; they provide us with food, clean air, medical resources and energy; and protect us against floods, pests and extreme weathers. Biodiversity is also part of our cultural heritage – a fact that is not restricted to indigenous people. What would Disney movies look like without biological diversity? Can you imagine the paintings of Henri Rousseau if he had chosen to depict urban landscapes – or our parks and gardens emptied of their wildlife?
Today, working as part of the MAB France committee, I promote sustainable living and local initiatives which show that living in harmony with nature is not just a utopian ideal. It is a lifestyle already being lived in biosphere reserves, and beyond, where people choose to live with and value biodiversity as part of their ecosystem. These people have stories to tell, experiences to share and inspiration to provide. Their testimonies are particularly valuable in the light of the current crisis and the challenges before us. They lead the way to a better relationship between humans and nature.
As a young professional, I am also part of the MAB youth community, which helps to give a voice to a generation that is often disregarded. We work to empower young people and find ways to involve them in the decision-making process at all levels. Even though we are often seen as a lazy and passive generation, we have a lot to say about creating a future that we can look forward to.
I am grateful to have a meaningful job in line with my values, and each time I have the chance to visit a biosphere reserve, I fall in love with nature all over again.
For many years, the ocean was seen as a place of mystery, of fear. And it is normal to be afraid of what is unknown. In ancient times brave people explored this blue surface; some returned, others not. The ocean was for a long time known as a place of monsters and mermaids.
More recently, we have changed our perspective about the ocean, seeing it as a source of life. However, we also endanger the ocean and its lifeforms through pollution, climate change and overfishing. We take more out of the ocean than it can sustainably provide, leaving its biodiversity under constant threat. The ocean, represented in Greek mythology as Tethys, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the source of so many legends and stories, needs attention.
Our perspective of the ocean has evolved as scientific knowledge has advanced. Today, we know that much of the ocean remains unknown to us, when compared with our knowledge of Mars and the Moon. We have catalogued numerous species, and while none are monsters there is a vast biodiversity.
We know now that ocean monsters are in fact fantastic creatures that hold not mysteries but incredible potential. There are intelligent creatures like the octopus which has three brains, or huge animals like the giant blue whale whose heart pumps about 220 litres per beat.
The ocean is home to the largest and the smallest creatures on the planet. It is a rich universe, full of life even in depths where no light reaches. There are creatures that glow neon, others that communicate using sonar, and even shell-collecting fish. Life at sea is fascinating.
While in the past stories about mysterious mermaids and sirens were used as warnings, today we need to reconcile with the feminine – with Gaia, our Mother Earth, who provides us with the richest of biodiversity. The fertile ground present on planet Earth, the only planet that has biodiversity in our solar system, is a gift from the source of life: the ocean.
May the International Day of Biological Diversity be a day to honour our deep dependence on this blue environment that produces 60 per cent of the oxygen we breathe. Even if isolated, we can make a toast to life on this blue planet.
In a world where anthropocentrism is the norm, we human beings continue to find reasons to eternalize ourselves as protagonists, forgetting that everything is connected and that in addition to being social creatures we are biological beings, who affect and are affected by our relationship with the other beings around us.
To (re)define this struggle means not presuming to be the saviours of the forests, the rivers and oceans, or the mountains, but, rather, to see ourselves as part of a whole in which we live interrelated with other human and non-human beings.
The Youth Network of the Chocó Andino de Pichincha in Ecuador is an organization that covers a mega-diverse territory, seeking to strengthen the sense of belonging and identity in order to achieve sustainability in all its senses. As well as an ecosystem, the Youth Network of the Chocó Andino de Pichincha lives with and respects diverse realities, where conservation and threats are latent. We see the challenge of mitigating the conflict between human beings and nature as a long-term process, one that simultaneously translates into strengthening ourselves as an organization around environmental governance. We also seek to achieve change, sustainability and harmony, all of which are determining factors when taking action to overcome the present environmental, economic and social crisis.
In this context, the work of the network has been and will continue to be our main strength. Reflecting on education and communication, and real, active participation in the governance of the territory, has meant getting to know different realities, assimilating them and enriching our process.
Sembrar Salva Vidas is a campaign launched by the Youth Network of the Andean Chocó of Pichincha in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to motivate more local people to plant and thus ensure their food sovereignty, as well as that of their neighbours. One activity with which the youth network identifies is sowing: the simple action of sowing leads to a wide reflection on different themes. Sowing has a direct relationship with water, with the state of the soil, with food, with culture and customs, with the Moon, with people and even with the mental health of a population. Generating harmony means understanding that all these elements are interconnected and interdependent. To sow in a sustainable way means considering where the seed comes from, and regardless of whether you have access to it or not, raising awareness among those who plant with their own hands, of the need to value and respect all beings. We all depend on microorganisms that generate the fertilizer that nourishes plants which in the future will feed our families.
The Chocó Andino de Pichincha Biosphere Reserve of the MAB Programme is a great ally for young people. It represents for us a fresh space to transmit our concerns about threats and proposals conveying the vision the inhabitants of this territory have for living with biological and cultural diversity that runs counter to the homogenization of processes. Such homogenization intends to continue feeding the economic model at a voracious scale and is clearly unsustainable and contrary to the interests of habitats and communities. For us, the biosphere reserve is a space to give voice to those who do not have one and to build a more harmonious ecosystem in a resilient manner, betting on a belief that sustainable tourism, food sovereignty, health, research, education and agro-ecological production will help us move towards a better relationship between human beings and ecosystems.
My name is Cecilia Laporta. I am Uruguayan and the youngest of four siblings, whose names are Martín, Paula and Inês. My relationship with biodiversity has been connected, for as long as I can remember, with my brother and sisters ,and with La Paloma, a coastal town in the department of Rocha that forms part of the Bañados del Este Biosphere Reserve.
Martín and Paula are marine biologists. On 5 June 1992 we celebrated World Environment Day at my school. The teacher asked us to make a poster to share with our class and to put together a billboard. Without knowing it, this was my first activist act.
I still remember the drawing – my first environmental banner with a beautiful orca, copied from my brother Martín’s sea encyclopaedia, and the phrase ‘No to captivity’ in red, inspired by the film Free Willy, our movie selection for each Sunday Video Club.
We grew up and the summers went by. Sunset, sunrise, camping and the ocean, with Inês and I always by the sea on some beach in Rocha. Paula, who is six years older than me, began working on the conservation of sea mammals while Martín worked with sea turtles. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the whole family understood why it was important to conserve not one, but more than four species of sea turtles, inhabiting the coasts of Uruguay as well as dolphins like Flipper! We enjoyed our first experiences of eco-tourism on the reserve and experienced wonderful adventures there.
When it came time to choose my professional career, the quota of biologists in the family was covered, and after seeing a dolphin biopsy, I gave up the idea. But there’s a reason why things happen. During trips to help Paula photo-identify Commerson’s dolphins (Tursiops truncatus gephyreus), I studied economics and later joined the NGO Repapel working in environmental education and waste management.
Years later, I joined the National Directorate of the Environment as an administrator for a project that sought to link approvals of environmental impact projects with information on biodiversity and protected areas. I put to one side the administrative-accounting aspects of the role and became more involved with project management. I believed that this idea would change the world, but reality and the complexities of the system won the day. So, I returned to my studies and took a Master’s degree in Integrated Coastal Management, seeking to link my profession with my great passion, the sea, through the portal of Interdisciplinary and Participatory Action Research.
This is how my path began to the Laguna de Rocha Protected Landscape and the community of artisanal fishermen who live there. Together with Ximena, a Chilean anthropologist who fell in love with Uruguay, we began to work with the group of fisherwomen on the creation of a gastronomic enterprise that produces food exclusively based on lagoon fishing. With them we discovered what food sovereignty means, the effort and vulnerability of fishing workers, and the invisibility and importance of women fisherwomen in Uruguay.
I observed more than 100 species of birds of the 250 that inhabit this Ramsar site, and I also saw them migrate. I learned about the incredible life cycle of the shrimp caught in the lagoon, and began to wonder if the water current in southern Brazil would be warm enough in September for the shrimp fry caught between March and May in the lagoon. I learned about the impacts of the pesticides used in the lagoon’s watershed on the fish we eat, on the quality of the water, and especially on the vegetation growing in the lagoon which causes nets to become entangled, making fishing more difficult. I saw fisherwomen’s homes being flooded, again and again, as a result of La Niña, and we saw the water level of the lagoon drop down in the aftermath of the following drought.
Nature is connected. I observed the interrelationships of our actions and their common consequences. I learned about the knowledge the fisherwomen and their parents and grandparents have of the lagoon, how they use their senses: they know the sound of the water hitting every corner of its shores and they see the lagoon shaking the second the wind changes direction. I knew then what inhabiting the territory means, and in a region without a native people, this is the local population.
Five years ago, I moved to La Paloma, to the reserve by the sea and the lagoon. Martín and Paula live nearby too. Since then, and thanks to the links with other young people from Latin America and the rest of the world who are part of the biosphere reserves, the concept of local development, the conservation of biodiversity, and the struggles of women and young people, and local and indigenous people, have become meaningful again. They have become a common cause, a genuine network. We recognize that the present system has an expiration date; it forms part of an abusive, global and invasive economy, which alienates us and holds nature, women and the poor as its main hostages. However, these young people share knowledge, feelings, initiatives, actions, dreams and hopes. We share stories and unite our voices on the International Day of Biological Diversity to empower our struggle, as our family continues to grow.
Well, we've all had our lives directly affected by biodiversity. Some of the earliest memories I had of my childhood were the visits my family went on to the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens. They're tucked away in a quiet part of the world, wedged between the Blue Mountains and Wollemi National Parks. The diversity of the plants, showcasing botanical diversity from every continent amongst a garden designed in such a way where every section is it's own picturesque escape to a different world.
Now that I've grown, I've learnt to appreciate much more about biodiversity, and have the mobility to see more from further parts of my world. Increasingly well versed in the flora and geography of my region, the links and stories of each species I see starts to get more distinct as to how they emerged and a story of their evolution over thousands of generations reveals itself.
But, at the same time, I see changes to this biodiversity, we all see changes to this biodiversity. Whether it's species which once seemed regular to my area ceasing to turn up one season, such as the decreasing number of the iconic Christmas beetles once regularly tapping away at our windows on summers nights, or the shock of mismanagement of our ecological communities separated from the Indigenous people whose practices over thousands of years have shaped the land into a mutual existence, practices increasingly forgotten as generations disconnected from their lands pass away.
The state of nature is in trouble. One species within it, humans, have undergone unprecedented evolution to become the most powerful and influential species, perhaps in the entire past and future of this planet. In our pursuit to bring billions out of poverty, to achieve our dreams of flight and technological progress for better lives, we've done so often at the cost of the biodiversity and ecosystems which we depend upon. Economic progress over the last centuries has been done through the exploitation of the rest of nature and it's capital, long accumulated over countless millennia. This is unsustainable, and threatens our societies stability and existence.
We can agree that there are serious issues to our world, but what we cannot all clearly agree upon is a clear solution to the issues we face.
But what we do have working are ways which bring together the many stakeholders with diverse interests, to agree upon and work towards more sustainable decisions and models of development, at a reliable pace. One of these examples is the MAB Programme, and this ability to bring together such a diverse range of actors to agree and implement this progress. While not able to offer the rapid progress some stakeholders want, or as easy to work with as others want, it's a rate of progress which is practical, and one which provides results over a long-term.
My name is Yu Tian, born on December 10, 1989. Since September 2015, I have been working in the Administration of Fanjingshan Biosphere Reserve, mainly engaged in biodiversity conservation and its response to climate change. Currently, I am in charge of the Special Fund Project for Training Outstanding Young Forestry Talents supported by the Department of Forestry, Guizhou, entitled “study on butterfly species diversity and its response to climate change in Fanjingshan Biosphere Reserve”. This project has been implemented in 2018 and is expected to be completed in 2021. Through the response of the vertical distribution pattern of butterfly species to climate change, this project analyzes and predicts the change of butterfly distribution pattern under the background of climate change in the future, in order to provide scientific basis for butterfly species protection.
Fanjingshan Biosphere Reserve is located at the junction of Jiangkou, Songtao, and Yinjiang counties in the northeast of Guizhou Province. It was designated as a natural forest forbidden area by the Ministry of forestry in 1956 and established as the first nature reserve in Guizhou with the approval of the people’s Government of Guizhou Province in 1978. In 1986, it was listed as a member of the world “Man and Biosphere” reserve network by UNESCO, becoming the fourth nature reserve in China to join the network. At the 42nd World Heritage Congress in 2018, Fanjingshan was successfully included in the World Natural Heritage and became the 13th World Natural Heritage site in China. Fanjingshan Biosphere Reserve covers a total area of 428.63 square kilometers, including 416.07 square kilometers of forest land that accounts for 97.07% of the total area of the reserve. The biodiversity of species is very rich. Now it is preliminarily identified that there are 6,546 species of animals and plants, including 3,533 species of plants and 3,013 species of animals.
Solving the problem of biodiversity loss is an urgent global issue, which requires governments, scientific research institutions, private enterprises, non-governmental organizations, and communities to publicize the value and significance of biodiversity conservation. We should strengthen policy guarantee, social policy incentives, and global action to deal with the loss of biodiversity. We should further strengthen publicity and education on biodiversity conservation through science popularization, and encourage various social groups, such as children, youth, and even the elderly, to participate in biodiversity conservation activities. Young people should become active advocates, participants, and promoters of biodiversity conservation. We should encourage and support young people to play a vital role in biodiversity conservation, and set up green teams, such as youth volunteer service team for biodiversity conservation and propaganda team for ecological and environmental protection. In addition, we urgently need to promote the investigation of local resources, find out the geographical distribution pattern of rare and endangered wild animals and plants, and obtain the distribution characteristics of the flora and fauna, so as to provide information for the conservation and management of biodiversity.