2010 - International Biodiversity Year (IYB)

2010 is an auspicious year for the life on earth - a year that marks the culmination of various global and national programs and a year that will see the launch of new initiatives that seek to protect the diversity of life on earth.  Biodiversity conservation has a mixed record of success over the past century. On the positive side more than 12% of the lands of the planet are now set aside for conservation. However, that increasing level of conservation has also been accompanied by increasing rates of species extinction and habitat loss. Marine species and habitats in particular remain under-conserved and inadequately protected at a global scale.

In recognition of the importance of 2010, the UN has declared the year the international year of biodiversity (IYB). 

Objectives of IYB:

• Raise awareness of the importance of conserving biodiversity for human well-being and promote understanding of the economic value of biodiversity
• Enhance public knowledge of the threats to biodiversity and means to conserve it
• Encourage organizations (and through them individuals) to take direct or indirect biodiversity conservation activities
• Celebrate the achievements of Countdown 2010 partners and other stakeholders
• Reporting on the possible failures for not achieving the Target
• Prepare the ground for communicating the post-2010 target(s)

A website has been established to promote all IYB activities - http://www.countdown2010.net/year-biodiversity - it'll be worth tracking the site to see just what the world accomplishes in the year ahead and what we here in Alaska may both contribute to, and learn from, those efforts, even though, like the Law of the Sea Convention, the US is not a signatory to the Global Convention on Biodiversity.

 

It'll also be worthwhile to redouble our efforts to help others understand just why biodiversity matters - a  recent article in the NY Times described just how poor general ecological literacy is in much of the world... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/global/01green.html?ref=business