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International Day for Biological Diversity:
Integrating biodiversity with development
By Indunil THENUWARA
 We have been witnessing the drastic effects of climate change at an
increasing frequency of late. Floods, droughts, earthslips, landslides
and melting of icecaps are a few of the issues that have dominated
international news headlines over the last few years.
Freak weather conditions being experienced across the world including
in our own country have been attributed to climate change, and have
affected the lives of people and biodiversity in every country.
It’s in this backdrop of increasing natural disasters that the world
celebrated the International Day for Biological Diversity yesterday.
This year’s events seemed even more significant due to 2010 being the
International Year of Biodiversity as declared by the United Nations.
The world is changing fast and the growth in human population and
developments in the industrial sector have put excessive pressures on
biodiversity.
The International Day for Biodiversity is a reminder about the role
biodiversity plays in life, health and sustainable development on earth
and the importance of protecting it.
 It is an occasion to reflect on our responsibilities to safeguard
this diversity for future generations.
The theme for 2010, as declared by the Secretariat on the Convention
on Biodiversity (CBD) of the UN Environment Programme is ‘Biodiversity,
Development and Poverty Alleviation’.
According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, human health, wealth
and well-being depend on this planet’s species and habitats and the
goods and ecosystem services they provide such as food, fibre, medicine,
soil formation, air audits, climate regulation, regulation of water
supply and quality and the cultural and aesthetic value of plants and
species.
Biodiversity is also important to industries such as agriculture and
livestock, forestry, fishing and tourism. However, this variety is
declining at an alarming rate, affecting eco-balance. This will affect
everyone, but mostly the poorest people and the most vulnerable
countries.
 Seventy percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and directly
depend on biodiversity for their sustenance and income. Over 1.3 billion
people depend on biodiversity and basic ecosystems and the goods and
services they provide for their livelihoods. That’s why the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) of substantially reducing biodiversity loss by
2010, as decided in 2002, was set.
Biodiversity, despite being specifically mentioned in one MDG, is
important to all MDGs. However, as Ki-Moon says, nothing much has
happened in this direction. To re-focus on this theme, 2010 was
designated as the International Year of Biodiversity. The UN General
Assembly will hold a special meeting along with the MDG Summit in
September to give an impetus to the Nagoya Biodiversity Summit in
October with the goal of promoting a new vision for biodiversity. These
plans must promote conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and
equitable sharing of benefits from its use and recognise the links
between natural capital and development objectives, he said.
While the main aim of development is poverty reduction, it should
take note of sustainable environment too. The inter-relatedness of these
issues; biodiversity sustains development while development may have
both positive and negative impacts on biodiversity, have to be taken
into account.
“Action must be taken to arrest the root causes of biodiversity
decline and to achieve this, mindset and policies should be adjusted,”
the UN Secretary-General’s message said.
Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, the flagship publication of the CBD,
was released this month. It summarises the latest data and trends of
biodiversity and draws conclusions for CBD’s future strategy. It has
used many sources such as national reports, biodiversity indicator
information, scientific literature and studies assessing biodiversity
scenarios for the future.
 The Convention for Biodiversity was established on December 29, 1993
with the objectives of conserving biodiversity, sustainable use of the
different components of biodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing
of benefits from the use of genetic resources. Sri Lanka is also a
signatory to this Convention. When the Biodiversity Day was first
created by the Second Committee of the United Nations General
 Assembly
in 1993, December 29 (the date the Convention of Biological Diversity
came into force) was designated as the Biodiversity Day. May 22 was
adopted only in December 2000, to commemorate the adoption of the text
of the Convention on May 22, 1992 by Nairobi Final Act of the Conference
for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the CBD. One of the reasons for
this change of date was the difficulty faced by many countries to plan
the activities in December, a month with many holidays.
The CBD Secretariat established the Biodiversity for Development
Initiative after a biodiversity conference in Paris in 2006. It calls
for support on biodiversity mainstreaming in partner countries and the
improvement of governance for poverty reduction and sustainable use of
biodiversity.
The CBD works closely with the UN Development Program to ensure that
biodiversity conservation and sustainable use are integral to national
and regional economies and social development policies, legal
frameworks, development plans and implementation systems.
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Events on the Day |
| In Sri Lanka, the main program related to the International Day for
Biodiversity was conducted on May 21 by the Biodiversity Secretariat of
the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Wayamba University of
Sri Lanka and the South Asian Environmental Cooperation program. The
event took place at the Makandura premises of the Wayamba University
under the patronage of Environment Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa,
Deputy Environment Minister Faizer Musthapha, Chief Minister Wayamba
Province Athula Wijesinghe and Vice Chancellor, Wayamba University Prof.
Nimal Perera. Presentation of material to the University by the
Ministry, lectures, poster competitions and tree planting campaigns were
some of the events held on the day. The mango festival held at the
University premises was a novel event where the opportunity was provided
for participants to view and taste a variety of both local and foreign
mangoes. A workshop to create awareness of biodiversity issues was held
on the same day at Pannala National School with the participation of
over 450 students from over 10 schools. |
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International events |
| Some of the activities that took place around the world in connection
with the event were lectures, seminars, film presentations, cultural
events, exhibitions and school outreach activities.
Among the more prominent activities was the Green Wave which was
introduced two years ago as an initiative of the German government.
Children and youth in schools and other groups planted trees at exactly
10.00am local time, leading to a ‘green wave’ across many time zones.
Many other organisations took part in this event this year which was
also supported by Airbus Industrie and National Geographic Society.
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