The impacts that the human race is having on biodiversity are staggering. Nature is declining globally at unprecedented rates, with species extinctions increasing exponentially.
The IPBES assessment from May 2019 painted a sobering picture of the sheer scale of this crisis:
- An estimated 1 million species threatened with extinction
- 75% of the land based environment and 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions
- More than a third of the land’s surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to crop or livestock production
- Land degradation has reduced the productivity of nearly a quarter of the land’s surface, with enormous impacts on food security and livelihoods
There are five key drivers at the root of this problem:
- Changes in land and sea use
- Direct exploitation of organisms
- Climate change
- Pollution
- Invasive alien species
The UN Environment Programme is uniquely positioned to tackle these challenges and does so through a plethora of science-based and scalable approaches:
- Integrating biodiversity concerns (such as illegal wildlife trade and invasive alien species) into border security by improving policy frameworks, building capacity (in terms of both knowledge and actual equipment) and raising public awareness
- Mainstreaming biodiversity into agriculture, forestry, fisheries, tourism and extractive industries, and reducing their impact on biodiversity by removing harmful subsidies and providing incentives for biodiversity-friendly practices
- Reducing demand for illegal wildlife species and products
Our work through the Congo Basin Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme is an example of an ambitious programme bringing together six countries to tackle drivers of biodiversity loss by stabilising forest cover, peatlands, and wildlife populations across the Congo Basin. With $63 million committed to the programme in 2019, the initiative is set to transform the course of development in this critical biome while producing multiple benefits for biodiversity, climate change, and land degradation.
