The diversity of animals, plants and microorganisms on the planet is at risk due to factors such as changing land use, urbanization, overexploitation, pollution and climate change, the UN said on Wednesday, calling for action now to protect a million species from extinction.
The appeal on the International Day for Biological Diversity urges governments to fully implement a landmark agreement to halt and reverse nature loss by mid-century, adopted by 196 Member States in 2022.
Safeguarding nature
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to restore ecosystems while creating jobs, building resilience, and spurring sustainable development.
Named for the cities in China and Canada where negotiations were held, it is also known as the Biodiversity Plan.
Concrete measures include protecting 30 per cent of the planet's lands, coastal areas and inland waters by 2030.
Biodiversity 'web' unravelling
In his message to mark the International Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the "complex web of biodiversity" which sustains all life on Earth is "unravelling at alarming speed - and humanity is to blame."
"We are contaminating land, oceans, and freshwater with toxic pollution, wrecking landscapes and ecosystems, and disrupting our precious climate with greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
The UN's biodiversity chief, David Cooper, added that a whole range of species are increasingly in danger. One example is amphibians, particularly in some tropical areas, where they are confronting a combination of land use change, climate change and disease.
Coral reefs under threat
"Another major category that's really threatened are coral reefs… because of climate change interacting with coastal development, overfishing and the like," he told UN News. "We are losing coral reefs through coral bleaching and other problems related to climate change."
Many important insect species responsible are pollinating fruits and vegetables could also disappear.
"Already for those animal pollinated crops, the yield potential, the production potential, is a third less than it would be because of declines in the abundance and in the diversity of pollinators," he added.
