Biodiversity is the complex web that sustains all life, including human existence. Yet, this web is unravelling – 1 million of the world’s estimated 8 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction.
Billions of people around the world rely on wild species for food, energy, medicine and materials. Sustainable practices ensure that species and ecosystems continue to provide essential resources for local communities, supporting their immediate needs and long-term survival.
Promoting policies that integrate ecosystem health with human development demonstrates that both can thrive together. Responsible practices, such as sustainable fisheries and wildlife management, ensures the needs of people and nature are balanced for mutual benefit.
Global action
UNEP plays a leading role in global efforts to protect species and vital benefits nature provides to people.
It supports international agreements like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and hosts the Secretariat of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which regulates global trade in wild animals and plants to ensure their survival. UNEP also hosts the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which focuses on conserving and sustainably using biological diversity, as well as the Convention on Migratory Species, which promotes international cooperation to protect migratory species and their habitats.
UNEP also has longstanding partnerships with species-specific networks and alliances such as the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program and the Great Apes Survival Partnership, a global initiative focused on the conservation of great apes and their habitats.
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