World wildlife fund estimates that biodiversity had decline by more than a quarter in the last 35 years. Report "2010 and Beyond: Rising to the Biodiversity Challenge", issued by WWF, showed how biodiversity has constant decline despite the agreement in 2002 when Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity set clear targets to achieve a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national levels.
WWF thinks that major reason for this decline is lack of financial and technical resources as biodiversity loss still isn't political priority, and therefore lacks support on the highest level. Biodiversity loss current decline could have direct impact on our life. Reduced biodiversity means shortage in water and food supply, vulnerability to diseases (with fewer new medicines), and much greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming.
In order to preserve food, water, medicines, and protection from natural disasters we need to preserve the species that support them, their natural habitats and ecosystems. Reduced biodiversity means reduced use of resources, and biodiversity loss must become urgent political question, not only from ecological but also from economic point of view.
World wildlife fund is asking governments to do:
- develop joint implementation plans between environment, agriculture, food, water, finance, and health in order to take urgent action to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
- live up to their commitment to put in place effective protected area systems, with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities and promoting equity and benefit sharing.
- to adopt a target to achieve zero net annual deforestation by 2020 and initiate collaboration between the CBD and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce green house gas emissions from deforestation and degradation.
Without appropriate political action biodiversity decline will continue, and our future generations will have to face face hunger, thirst, diseases and different natural disasters if we carry on this losing biodiversity trend. It is our moral obligation to preserve our planet for future generations, but politics is driven with profits, and not with moral obligations. And this is the major reason why there is a "big if shadow" behind biodiversity loss question.
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