Biodiversity : Our life

8/9/2019 Biodiversity : Our life

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our

planetThe magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme May 2010

BIODIVERSITY

O Lf

SeretSe Khama Ian KhamaOur very eSSence

eLIZaBeth maruma mremacOnServIng KIngS

JameS P. LeaPeSPOtLIght On SOLutIOnS

SImOn n. StuarttIme tO thInK BIg


2/362 OUR PLANET OUR LIFE

UNEP promotes

environmentally sound practices

globally and in its own activities.

This magazine is printed on 100% recycled

paper, using vegetable-based inks and other

eco-friendly practices. Our distribution policy

aims to reduce UNEPs carbon footprint.

Our Planet, the magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: (254 20) 762 1234

Fax: (254 20) 762 3927

e-mail: [email protected]

To view current and past issues of this publication online, please visit

www.unep.org/ourplanet

ISSN 101 7394

Director of Publication :Satinder Bindra

Editor : Geoffrey Lean

Coordinator : Geoff Thompson

Editorial Assistance : Susanne Morrell

Special Contributors : Nick Nuttall, Georgina Langdale

Distribution Manager : Manyahleshal Kebede

Design : Amina Darani

Produced by : UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information

Printed by : Progress Press

Distributed by : SMI Books

Acknowledgement : The charts and table on pages 1819 are taken fromThe Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity for National and

International Policy Makers Summary: Responding to the Value of Nature (2009).

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP

or the editors, nor are they an official record. The designations employed and the

presentation do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of

UNEP concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its authority or

concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

* All dollar ($) amounts refer to US dollars.

Cover Photo: Valerie Giles/thebiggerpicture

Shed scorpion skin. The exoskeleton of arthropods protects and supports theanimals internal organs and musculature. Periodically, arthropods must go through

the process of ecdysis, molting their exoskeleton to accommodate growth of the body.


3/363OUR PLANET OUR LIFE

IAN KHAMA : Our very essenceBiodisi ds Bosw, d is dl o is oo, so o ks o i.

ELINOR OSTROM ANd HARINI NAGENdRA : Be iverse

Isiiol s wll s bioloil disi sold b pod.

ELIZABETH MARUMA MREMA : Conserving kingsSk poplios ollpsi woldwid, b is w op o osi .

GEORGINA LANGdALE : Nature of valuemki l pil ooill isibl is il i li biodisi loss.

JAMES P. LEAPE : Spotlight on Solutionstis poids bi oppoiis o lisi io o biodisi.

SIMON N. STUART : Time to think bigW is dd o p 2010 Iiol y o Biodisi bi js pblii s.

JANET RANGANATHAN an POLLY GHAZI : Shattering glass wallst io d dlop oiis sold o o o po osss d ob po.

dENNIS GARRITY : Hope is evergreen

Fi wi s pods i ilds, bs soils d biodisi.

dARRYL dMONTE : Wheres the story?Joliss sold wi o, d b, bo biodisi.

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ALSO

booksfios

bi d bspods

wds d spopl

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www.unep.or/pubicationsbooks

The Last Stand o the Gorilla Environmental Crime and Confict in theCongo Basin

A UNEP rapid response assessment report, thispublication exposes the escalating threat to gorillas

across the Greater Congo Basin rom poaching orbushmeat, habitat loss and natural epidemics suchas ebola. Alarmingly, the report indicates that militiasare behind much o the illegal bushmeat trade, andestimates o the animals range are signicantlyless than in earlier studies. It presents a series orecommendations or addressing threats to gorillas inthe region.

The Environment Outlook orthe Arab Region: Environment orDevelopment and Human Well-being

The Environment Outlook or the Arab Region is the rstocial, comprehensive, and integrated assessment othe state o the environment in the Arab region. It isa credible, scientic assessment that provides a baseor policy ormulation in the region. The report wasprepared in response to a decision by the Council oArab Ministers Responsible or the Environment inits 17th session, held at the headquarters o theSecretariat-General o the League o Arab States, inCairo, Egypt, in December 2005.

Clearing the Waters:A Focus on Water Quality Solutions

This publication conveys the urgency o controlling

pollution and preserving water quality around theworld. Marking an international change o ocus romwater quantity to the importance o water qualityor satisying human and environmental needs, itpresents an overview o water quality challengesand issues and uses case studies to illustrate bothproblems and solutions. The book emphasizes waterquality solutions and strategies or water qualityinstitutions, pollution prevention, water treatmentand ecological restoration. Key ndings and policyrecommendations are provided.

Sick water? The central role o

wastewater managementin sustainable development

This publication addresses the challenges posed byillegal and unregulated wastewater, which presenta global threat to human health and well-being. Thereport identies the threats to human and ecologicalhealth and the consequences o inaction on this issue.It also outlines appropriate policy and managementresponses over the short term and longer term thatcan trigger employment opportunities, supportlivelihoods, boost public and ecosystem health and

contribute to more intelligent water management.

Biodiversity and the LawIntellectual Property, Biotechnologyand Traditional Knowledge

Edited By Charles R. McManis (Earthscan)

This book addresses the question: how do wepromote global economic development whilesimultaneously preserving local biological andcultural diversity? Its 50 contributors examinebiodiversity, its loss and what is to be done;whether biotechnology is part o the problemor part o the solution; traditional knowledgeand how, i at all, it should be protected; and

the practical lessons learned in relation toethnobotany and bioprospecting.

Sustaining lie:

how human health depends on biodiversityEdited by Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein(Oxord University Press USA)

Sustaining Lie examines the ull range o potential threatsthat biodiversity loss poses to human health. Written byHarvard Medical School physicians, it is a comprehensiveview o how human medicines, biomedical research, theemergence and spread o inectious diseases, and theproduction o ood, both on land and in the oceans, dependon biodiversity. Case studies illustrate the contributionsthat a wide range o organisms have already made to

human medicine, and those they are expected to make iwe do not drive them to extinction.

Policies or Sustainable Governance

o Global Ecosystem ServicesEdited by Janet Ranganathan, Mohan Munasinghe andFrances Irwin (Edward Elgar Publishing)

This book provides a compilation o policy, institutionaland governance recommendations rom 18 leadinginternational experts, to respond to the MillenniumEcosystem Assessment (MEA) nding that over thelast 50 years humans have degraded ecosystemservices at a aster rate and on a larger scale than atany time in human history. The contributors reviewthe MEA ndings and dene a global action agenda or

governments, businesses, international organizations,civil society and research organizations.

Are you a Green Leader?Business and Biodiversity: Makingthe Case or a Lasting Solution

Aimed at businesses and organizations thatwork with the private sector, this publicationexplores the link between biodiversity andbusiness, highlights best practices andencourages businesses to engage withbiodiversity issues. It provides a globalsnapshot o major biodiversity impacts, eortsand uture challenges in a number o keyindustry sectors mining, energy, agrioodsand sheries, construction and orestry,tourism, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, ashionand nance that depend or have an impact onbiodiversity and ecosystem services.

OUR PLANET OUR LIFE4


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Climate change has been described as the biggest

market failure of all time, but loss of biodiversityand of natures economically important services

must surely be running it close, if not equalling it.Year in and year out, the world economy may belosing $2.5 to $4.5 trillion-worth of natural capitalas a result of deforestation alone, quite apart from

the cost of the losses of other key ecosystems.

Decisive action must be taken to reverse thesedeclines or the bill will continue to climb. And,

at the same time, the chance will disappear offully achieving the poverty-related MillenniumDevelopment Goals and of ushering in a sustainable21st century for six billion people, rising to ninebillion by 2050.

Governments mobilized stimulus packages worthover $3 trillion, seemingly overnight, in responseto the recent nancial and economic crisis. Whereare the same stimulus and the same coordinated

international political response to address the crisisfacing our natural and nature-based assets?

The ground breaking Economics of Ecosystems andBiodiversity (TEEB), hosted by UNEP, attempts tocrystallize and illuminate new answers and assisttowards decisive choices. Its landmark report is to

be published to inform governments decisions inadvance of the Convention on Biological Diversitysmeeting in Nagoya, Japan, later this year. But manyinspiring and potentially transformational facts and

gures are already emerging, as are more creativemanagement options.

Let me cite one example that underlines TEEBs framing of thedebate. Subsidized commercial shrimp farms can generate returnsof around $1,220 per hectare by clearing mangrove forests. But

TEEB shows that this does not take into account costs to localcommunities linked with losses of wood and non-wood forestproducts, sheries and coastal protection services totalling over$12,000 a hectare. And the prot to commercial operators similarly

neglects the costs to society of rehabilitating the abandoned sitesafter ve years of exploitation which is estimated at over $9,000a hectare.

Some countries are rising to the challenge, at least in part.

Planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangrovesin Vietnam costs just over $1 million but saves annualexpenditures on dyke maintenance of well over $7 million.

One in 40 jobs in Europe is now linked with environment andecosystem services ranging from clean tech eco-industries to

organic agriculture, sustainable forestry and eco-tourism.

Investment in protecting Guatemalas Maya Biosphere Reservegenerates an annual income of close to $50 million a year, andhas created 7,000 jobs and boosted local family incomes.

World Environment Day, mainly hosted this year by the countryand people of Rwanda, marks a moment in 2010 the UNInternational Year of Biodiversity to re-engage the biodiversitychallenge. The public, politicians and business leaders must

reconnect with the fundamentals that really drive the global

economy, livelihoods and ultimately all our life support systems.

Next time you buy honey from the supermarket or corner shop,reect on the fact that bees and other pollinators provide services

worth perhaps $90 billion a year. Bread and jam would not get tothe table were it not for the worms, beetles and bugs that makesoils fertile and the multi-trillion dollar agricultural industrypossible. The list of similar services is long and legion.

Using smart market mechanisms and bringing visibility to thetrue value of nature are perhaps the missing links in progressingtowards sustainable management. Unless we give economic value

to biodiversity and to ecosystems and the services they provide we are unlikely to turn the tide in a world fascinated by GDP,stock markets and other measures that dene contemporarynotions of progress.

Biodiversity is, of course, far more than dollars and cents, Yen,Euros, Yuan or Kenyan shillings but the economic case forsustainable management of our natural capital needs to be madeif we are to design a path away from degradation, destructionand extinction. As TEEB underlines, the economic case isoverwhelming and compelling. It is a powerful ally and complement

to the traditional case for conservation, centered on stewardshipand on respecting the spiritual dimensions of the living world.

losAchim Steiner

un ud-S-gl d exi Dio, uneP

OUR PLANET OUR LIFE 5



iAn KhAmA

Psid o rpbli o Bosw

Our veryessence



Its safe to say that when you say the word Africa to most people, the

images that appear in their mindsare something like Botswana.

They will picture waterways alive with blazing-pink amingos, lazyhippos, ferocious crocodiles and

millions of other birds, insects,plants and sh; baking savannah

where herds of elephants rest under

shady trees and lions, cheetah and wild dogs stalk nimble antelopeand zebra; a place where theextraordinary is normal and where,for millennia, people have beenlearning the secrets of plants and

animals that surround them.

Biodiversity is not something thatwe merely think about in Botswana it is something that denes ournation and our people, something

that gives us our traditions and ourhistory, and a fundamental part of

our economy.

The biological diversity of Botswana which includes us, its people isthe beating heart of our nation, andour deep-rooted understanding of

this is part of what makes Botswanaan African success story. We respectand care for our resources, and our

desire to sustain and maintain theenvironment that has nurtured us

all helps to inform our wider set ofsustainable policies. This means that

we do not allow rapacious exploitationof our land and its resources and this

has helped us to create a healthyeconomy, a peaceful and eective

democracy, good standards of livingand a stable society.

Protection of our biodiversity isnot some vague cause that we paylip service to it is our patrioticduty and our duty to our children.In protecting our biodiversity, we

protect the very essence of Botswanaand its people. Indeed, the use of

biological resources in Botswana is

as ancient as human antiquity.

The health of a countrys biodiversity

is often an indicator of the health ofits society. To maintain biological

diversity one needs good governanceand a holistic and long-term visionfor the nation. In Botswana this is

what we endeavour to do, and as aresult of our pragmatic approach and unlike many developing nations

with an abundance of mineralwealth we have not fallen prey tothe so called resource curse where

potential wealth generates unrest,inequality, poverty and suering.

Instead, our diamonds and otherminerals which are, of course, anite resource have assisted usin setting in place policies that willhelp us to continue to thrive even if

the revenue from mining diminishes.

These polices, naturally, havethe protection of our natural andrenewable assets our biologicaldiversity at their heart.

Tourism is an important andgrowing part of our national income accounting directly or indirectlyfor 10 per cent of our GDP andthis depends on ensuring that

Botswana remains beautiful and

exciting, which means conservingour stunning wildlife. Agriculture



is still the primary source of income

for 80 per cent of our people and, byworking to ensure the well-being of

our land and biodiversity, we helpto reduce the impact of the biggest

threat to Batswana people whodepend on agriculture climatechange causing drought anddesertication.

In 2004, as signatories to theConvention on Biological Diversity(CBD) we made a commitment to

work to ensure the protection of ournations biodiversity. Our vision was

that Botswana should be:

A nation in balance with nature, withfair access to biological resources, where

the benets deriving from the use ofthese resources are shared equitably forthe benet and livelihoods of current and future generations, and whereall citizens recognize and understandthe importance of maintaining Botswanas biological heritage and

related knowledge and their role inthe conservation and sustainable useof Botswanas biodiversity.

In the CBD meeting that will takeplace in Nagoya, Japan later this

year we are preparing to show that we have followed a path that has

helped ensure that we have realisedthis vision, and will continue to doso. Not only does our biodiversity

represent income for the nation

now, but there are untapped andunknown benets in our endemic

wildlife that stand to provide the

world with new medicines and othernew technologies in the future. Itis vital that the parties at Nagoya

recognize Botswanas right to benetfairly from the exploitation of theseresources as well as the rights ofother nations to benet from theirbiological resources.

Botswanas plants and animals are

as much of a part of this nation asits people, and it is vital that this

biological diversity is protectedfor future generations but if

the opening decade of the 21stcentury has taught us anything itis that local problems often require

global action.

The conservation of Botswanasnatural splendour requires interna-tional action on climate change; itneeds eective legislation to ensurethat where freshwater ecosystemscross national boundaries, the rights

of all nations served by these waterways are considered carefully; andit needs pragmatic regulations inplace that allow nations to use their

wild resources prudently when it canbe shown that their stewardship ofthese resources is eective.

Because we need to address theseissues internationally, for more than

a decade I have been a member of theboard of directors of ConservationInternational, a major international

environmental organization: thishelps me to keep my nger on the

pulse of international issues thathave a bearing on the biodiversity

and future of Botswana.

The crux is this. Botswanas peoplesneeds are indivisible from the needs

of our land. Botswana is our home,our provider and our pride. In the

words of our national anthem:Fatshe leno la rona Blessed bethis noble land.

Te health

o a countrys

biodiersity

is oen

an indicator

o the health o

its society.

o maintain

biological diersity

one needs good

governance and a

holistic and

long-term isionor the nation.


9/369OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION 9OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION

vba

Investment in protected areas holds exceptionally high returns.

Pavan Sukhdev, Study Leader o The Economics o Ecosystems and Biodiversity

(TEEB)

The politics o money is drowning out the weak voices o the tiger and the poor.

Keshav Varma, Programme Director o the Global Tiger Initiative, to delegates at

the frst Ministerial Conerence on Tiger Conservation

It is a mistake to believe that the ocean is endless, a giant limitless ood cupboard.

Isabelle Autissier, Head o WWF-France

We are literally eating the bluen tuna to death.

Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine

Gorilla conservation is everybodys responsibility.

Rosette Chantal Rugamba, Deputy CEO, Rwanda Development Board

Statement by scientists at the 2nd Open Science Conerence, hosted by

DIVERSITAS, October 2009

As we approach the 2010 Year o Biodiversity ... the abric out o which the Earth

system is woven is unravelling at an accelerating rate.

ubs129Total recorded bird extinctions; 103, the

number o bird extinctions in the last

200 years UNEP

50Per cent chance o survival o Australias

Great Barrier Ree i global CO2

emissions are not reduced by at least

25 per cent by 2020 Reuters

20,000Black rhinos in Kenya in 1973; 610, the

number today AP

8,000,000,000Estimated annual dollar value o honey bees

as pollinators or agricultural crops

UNEP

2/3Estimated decline o tuna stocks over the

past 50 years AFP

35

Years since the Convention on theInternational Trade in Endangered

Species o Wild Flora and Fauna came

into orce

100,000Tiger numbers at the beginning o the

twentieth century; 3,600, tigernumbers today AP

1.3 miionElephant population in the 1980s;

500,000, elephant populationtoday New York Times

2The number o tiger reserves in India that

have no tigers WWF

100,000Dollars that a single giant bluen tuna can

etch in auction at Tokyos Tsukiji shmarket Time

I we dont extend the ban to be able to study the impact o these limited sales,

there may be no elephants let to protect,

Ms Pat Awori, ounder o the Kenya Elephant Forum, ahead o the CITES conerence.

Without the legal ramework to support conservation eorts, we wont succeed.

Leigh Henry, senior policy ofcer TRAFFIC, joint programme o IUCN and WWF.



10/36

B d

eLinOr OStrOm

Posso, Dp oPoliil Si d Woksopi Poliil to d Polialsis Idi uisid 2009 ipi o noblPiz i eooi Sis

hArini nAGenDrA

rj Fllow,asok ts ors i eolo d eio,Blo, Idi



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The loss of biodiversity has alarmingimplications for the persistence ofhumankind, indeed for the survival

of life on Earth. Protected areasare the cornerstone of most policy

proposals to maintain biodiversity, yet their eectiveness is intenselydebated. Furthermore, when the

variety of biological life is so rich,

interconnected, and diverse, it seems

peculiarly shortsighted and inex-ible to adopt one single approachto conservation.

Protected areas are now veryextensive: more than 220,000 parkscover over 13 per cent of Earths land.Studies have shown that most havebeen generally successful at ensuringthat large-scale clearings of habitatsdo not occur within their boundaries.Yet considerable human threats still

exist for many of them, particularlythose in vulnerable locations withdense human settlements. Parkmanagers face continuing challenges

of poaching, illegal harvesting offorest products, and encroachment.Government-managed parks havealso been criticized for being costly,inecient, and exclusivist in theirapproach, tending to view indigenous

tribes and local communities with

suspicion and distrust, and ignoringand discounting the traditionalinstitutions and approaches thatthey may have developed to coexist

with nature.

It is also problematic to expect that government preserves will work

for all species and habitats, acrossall environments, geographies

and cultures, and across multiple,interconnected scales of space

and time. So carefully examining

dierent institutional approachesdeveloped by groups at diverse scales

to manage their natural resourcescan suggest policies for future

conservation management.

Garrett Hardin, author of theseminal article on the tragedy ofthe commons in the late 1960s,held that all forms of commonly

managed property would inevitablybe degraded over time. But wehave found, on the contrary, that

under appropriate conditions manypeople do organize eectively toprotect natural environments. Someinstitutions, such as in Switzerland,

have recorded histories of persistenceover centuries. Others, such asin Nepal, have been successfulat maintaining forests even inconditions of extreme conict andarmed violence. Developing shared

norms and rules that are consideredlegitimate and fair is crucial forachieving eective management ofcommon property. Local groups indierent environments and cultures

have developed an incredible variety


We

strongly propose

that

we need

a diersity o

institutions

to cope withthe diersity o

biological entities

and niches.

Forests teem with plant and animal life



of ways to do this using their

considerable indigenous knowledge.Yet, many analysts tend to discount

this variety.

We strongly propose that we need adiversity of institutions to cope with

the diversity of biological entitiesand niches.

By institutions, we mean the rulesused by participants in a variety of

settings as they pursue diverse goals.In a eld hockey game, for example,diverse institutions are involved.One is the set of rules that the teams

use for their game: in a professionalmatch, these will be dierent fromthose used by a group of teenagers

playing on a neighbourhood eld.There will also be referees to observethe play and enforce the rules. Then

the rules of a hockey league relateto how many referees are assigned,

the signals they should use and thepenalties they can impose. Theobservers sitting in the stadium

must follow yet another set of rules,related to who pays for which kind

of ticket and how young a person

must be to get in for free. So evensomething as simple as a hockey

game has a set of nested institutionsrelated to what happens on the eld,in the locker room, in the stadium,and even in the trac lanes leadingto it.

When policy analysts recommend

that the best solution forpreserving biodiversity is the

creation of a government agency,they usually expect that such a unit

will develop one set of rules evenif its jurisdiction is very large and

contains diverse ecologies. Thechallenge is to enable small, medium

and larger organizations to developrules specic to particular ecologicalsettings rather than trying to imposeone set for a large domain.

Many policymakers still presumethat local users of a resource areincapable of making responsibledecisions related to its use. Whenpeople do not have long-termstakes in the ecological outcomes

for a particular region, it is indeedmore likely that they will pursuemaximum-harvesting strategies foreconomic returns rather than the

sustainability of a local ecology.Taking away local authority to make

some of the rules for the uses of anecological resource actually reduces

the likelihood that individuals willperceive a long-term interest andso may exacerbate the problem ofoveruse. Careful studies have shownthat a core factor aecting thesustainability of forests is whether

local users monitor who uses theforest and report illegal harvesting:this is a surprise to many policy

analysts and scholars schooled inthe Garrett Hardin presumption

that users are always trapped intragic overuse.

Finding ways of dealing withspecic mixes of organisms in

a particular biophysical realmis extremely important, and sois establishing mechanisms foroversight. Nesting smaller unitsin larger ones can increase theprobability of long-term protection.Small to medium-scale institutionsmay be tted to a specic biologicalniche, while agencies operating atlarger scales can gather scienticinformation and provide back-up

for areas where local participantsdo not take on the responsibility forprotecting biodiversity.

Ecologists have learned thatthe existence of a diversityof interconnections among a

multiplicity of animals and plantsdoes not indicate disorder, butinstead points to the exibility andadaptive resilience of ecosystems.

It is important to develop a

similarly widespread appreciation ofinstitutional diversity, rather thanpresuming it is always disorganizedand ineective. Given the varietyof life, we must appreciate that nopanaceas exist. Multiple and exibleapproaches need to exist that cant local circumstances and adapt tochanges in resource conditions andthreats to them over time, if long-term sustainability of biodiversity is

to be achieved.

Monitoring biodiversity is central to understanding and protecting it



An ecofusThe Perect Flush is a simple device that converts a toilets mechanism rom single ush to dual-ush.It is low cost, easy to install, and can be retrotted to existing toilet cisterns. A press button unit with

hal- and ull-ush options sits on top o the toilet. When pressed this sends a signal to a device thatregulates the cisterns water valve system. Thirty to 50 per cent o the water needed to ush the toiletcan be saved with this gizmo which saves the monetary and environmental expense o installing anew toilet.www.brondell.com

Soarpowere robotic awn mowerThe RBZG001 is a truly intelligent garden mower. First, it uses solar power to supplement itselectricity supply. Second, it can automatically identiy its route. The mower has technology thatallows it to recognize obstacles and detect slopes and avoiding sliding down them. Third it candeposit its cuttings in a pre-determined location. Now, that puts the un back into mowingthe lawn.www.envirogadget.com

Eneryarestin soccer ba

What object can be a soccer ball, a portable generator, a community-builder and a global healthtool all at the time? Answer: the SOccket soccer ball. This amazing soccer ball generates electricityby being kicked around. Its inner workings allow it to capture energy rom impacts with eet, heads,the ground and anything else it might bump into. It generates electricity, which is stored in the balland used later to power an LED lamp or charge a mobile phone. Currently a prototype, the SOccketgot the thumbs up when it was piloted recently at youth programmes in Durban, South Arica, andNairobi, Kenya.www.soccket.com

Reoutionary reoutionsThe Copenhagen wheel is a bicycle wheel that stores up energy each time the brakes are used,and then gives the power back when the rider most needs it. When the rider applies the brakes,kinetic energy is transerred to electrical energy and stored by batteries within the wheel. Thebattery power kicks in when the rider needs a boost riding up a hill or a burst o speed in trac.It was designed by researchers rom the Massachusetts Institute o Technology and launchedat the 2009 climate change conerence in Copenhagen. Whats more, the wheel can talk to aniPhone mounted on the handles bars, and provide inormation on speed, direction, distancecovered and air pollution levels.http://web.mit.edu/press/2009/copenhagen-wheel.html

For eectricity, just a waterRecently weve seen a boom in portable solar-powered chargers. Now get set or a portable uelcell charger. The palm-sized H3 Charger is a uel cell powered by hydrogen. The hydrogen comesrom a replaceable uel pellet in a so called tea bag. The tea bag is placed in a compartment inside

the uel cell, water is added and hydrogen is given of. The hydrogen moves up into the uel cell tomake electricity. A phone can be charged directly rom the uel cell using a USB connector, or theelectricity stored in a small lithium-ion battery. Its ideal or the outdoors and has great potential oruse in developing countries.www.myuelcell.se/

Win up wakie takieMore and more wind-up or hand-cranked products are coming onto the market. Heres a walkietalkie two-way radio that needs no new batteries and doesnt have to be plugged into the mainsto be recharged. All it needs is plenty o elbow grease: its power is generated by a dynamomechanism driven by a crank handle. When ully powered each unit provides 1.5 hours o talktime and eight hours on standby. One minutes charging will give two minutes o talk time,so long conversations will give you plenty o exercise too. Roger, Roger, over and out!www.envirogadget.com

podus


14/36

cOnservingkings

eLiZABeth mArUmA mremAexi S,

coio o mio Spis

Shark populations are collapsing

worldwide. Internationalcollaboration is vital to conserve

and manage them, especially forthe highly migratory species that

travel the international watersof the worlds oceans. After

several years of negotiations, therst global agreement for theconservation of migratory sharks

was concluded in the Philippinesearlier this year in the form of a

Memorandum of Understandingunder the Convention on Migratory

Species (CMS). This is a milestone

achievement, not least because itcovers several sharks of commercial

importance such as the porbeagleand the spiny dogsh which areparticularly in demand for theirhigh-quality meat: a porbeagleloin costs up to $33 a kilogram.

It is good to see progress inimproving the international

governance of sharks, but the

challenge ahead is not to beunderestimated. Conserving


Tis, the 2010 International

Year o Biodiersity,

is the perect time or us to reect

on our consumption patterns

and liestyle,

to nd out what we can do in

our eeryday lies

to contribute to saing

the worlds biological diersity.

Sharks would be

a good place to start.


15/36

commercially harvested sh

is notoriously dicult, as wasagain illustrated by the failure

to regulate trade in bluen tunaand various shark species at the

Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species ofWild Flauna and Flora (CITES)Conference of Parties in March.

Approximately 71 per cent of ourplanets surface is covered with

oceans, yet we know very littleabout the marine environment,

which makes it particularly

dicult to halt the loss of marinespecies. Shark populations havedeclined as a result of overshingand unregulated shing. Thereis a high demand for sharkproducts, such as ns, and largenumbers of cartilaginous shsuch as sharks are also caught asbycatch by commercial shing.

You might think we would have

excellent data on these large andenigmatic top predators at least

for such hard-to-miss species as thewhale shark, which measure wellover ten metres in length. But, like

the deep sea environment itself,we are still in the dark on issues

ranging from their migration routesand the location of their breeding

sites to accurate catch data. Indeedthe International Union forConservation of Nature has onlybeen able to estimate the extent ofthe threat for just over half of the1,046 known species of the ClassChondrichthyes, which includes

sharks, skates and rays. Suchunderstanding as we have of shark

biology and numbers is helped by

improved technology such assatellite telemetry but themore we nd out, the moreevidence appears to indicate thatpopulations are collapsing in most

parts of the worlds oceans.

Sharks are inherently vulnerableto extinction because they areso sensitive to shing pressure.

They tend to be slow growing,

reach maturity late and havefew young. The spiny dogsh(Squalus acanthias) has a gestationperiod of 18 to 22 months andtheir females only give birth

when they are 15 years or older!Dogsh are also highly vulnerableto overshing since they tendto group in large schools and

because the most valuable pregnantfemales are targeted and often

caught in large numbers.

Highly migratory sharks areparticularly dicult to conservebecause they roam widely innational and international waters,

making it necessary for manycountries to be involved in theirmanagement. International

agreements and action plansneed to be in place to facilitate

collaboration and to coordinate

global eorts. Over the years,several instruments have been


MarkM.Lawrence/Corbis


16/36

developed such as the EuropeanUnion Action Plan for theConservation and Managementof Sharks and the Food and

Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations International Planof Action for the Conservationand Management of Sharks

but the recent CMS agreementis the rst intergovernmentaltreaty dealing specically withshark conservation at a globallevel. Covering seven species thusfar the great white, basking,

whale, porbeagle, spiny dogsh,shortn mako and longn makosharks it has been in force sinceMarch. Now the real work starts:

we hope to adopt a conservation

plan detailing implementationactivities at the rst meeting ofCMS signatories in late 2011.

Consumers should be just asconcerned as the over 90 nationsinvolved in shark shing and trade.

The spiny dogsh, for example,is commonly used in the EU for

dishes such as sh and chips. InGermany, a curled up slice of its

belly is known as Schillers locksafter the poets hairstyle. Shark nsoup is popular in China, costingup to $100 or more for a singlebowl. Eating sharks may be bad forhealth as well as for conservation.

Studies from Brazil, Italy and theUnited States suggest that mostshark meat tested contains mercurylevels far exceeding nationalsafety limits. UNEP is currentlyspearheading negotiations on an

international treaty on mercuryto safeguard human health.

Sharks are also used by many othertrades and industries. Shark skin

is used as leather for shoes andhandbags, and as a substitute forsandpaper by Chinese shermen(hence the name sand sh inChinese). Shark liver oil is usedto coat the hulls of wooden boats

in India. Squalene, an organiccompound primarily found in

shark liver, is widely used by the

cosmetics industry and, recently,in producing avian and swine u

vaccines. The list goes on and on.

This, the 2010 International Yearof Biodiversity, is the perfect timefor us to reect on our consumptionpatterns and lifestyle, to nd out

what we can do in our everydaylives to contribute to saving the

worlds biological diversity. Sharks

would be a good place to start.

There is still hope and timeto act. At our recent sharksmeeting in the Philippines, I wasimpressed by the dedication and

endurance of the many countriespushing for the adoption of the

agreement. Through it we hopethat stewardship can be createdand that many more countries will

join us in our challenging missionin conserving the magnicentkings of the sea. Bringing thecollapse of global shark populationsto a halt will be dicult, but notimpossible. So lets strive to do it.




Two exciting projects took jointhonours in the 20092010Sasakawa Prize or grassrootssustainable developmentinitiatives. Nuru Design wasawarded or bringing clean,

afordable lighting solutions to ruralcommunities in Rwanda, Kenya andIndia with portable, rechargeable LEDlights that can be recharged by a solarpanel or by human power using theworlds rst commercially available pedalgenerator. Trees, Water & People wonits award or distributing uel-ecientcook stoves which save amilies money

and dramatically reduce CO2 emissions.The winners were announced inFebruary and each received a cashprize o $100,000 to expand theirgroundbreaking initiatives.

www.unep.or/sasakawa/

Better cities, better lie is the theme o the World Expoin Shanghai, China, rom 1 May to 31 October 2010. Aspart o the United Nations exhibition at the Expo, UNEPsactivities will ocus on the theme o urban biodiversityin keeping with 2010 International Year o Biodiversity.

UNEPs events include: the Six BillionOthers multimedia project and theChinese premiere o HOME by YannArthus Bertrand; a green economyorum with local entrepreneurs;student debates; and exhibitionson eco-riendly liestyles, art andsustainability, and biomimicry.

ttp://en.expo2010.cn/

Clean up the World is a community-based environment campaign heldin partnership with UNEP that inspires and empowers individuals andcommunities rom every corner o the globe to clean up, x up andconserve their environment. The tag line or 2010 is Communities Caringor Nature in keeping with the World Environment Day theme. To nd outhow you can help with Clean Up the World Weekend, 1719 September, andlearn more, visit

www.ceanuptewor.orand nd us on:

Cheetah conservation and improving knowledge o ecosystem unctionsare at the heart o this years Tyler Prize or Environmental Achievement.Announced in April, the joint winners were Dr. Laurie Marker, the co-ounder and executive director o the Cheetah Conservation Fund inOtjiwarongo, Namibia, and Proessor Stuart Pimm, the Doris Duke Proessoro Conservation Ecology at Duke University, North Carolina, USA. TheTyler Prize is one o the premier awards or environmental science,environmental health and energy.

www.usc.eu/amin/proost/tyerprize/inex.tm

Save migratory birds in crisis every species counts

This years World Migratory BirdDay (WMBD) was held on 89 May.Bird-watching events, educationalprogrammes, lectures, art exhibitionsand public events were amongthe many ways that communities

around the world took part in thisglobal campaign. WMBD is an annualawareness-raising campaign thatpromotes the conservation o migratorybirds and their habitats worldwide.Closely linked to 2010 InternationalYear o Biodiversity, this years WMBDocused on the most globally threatened migratory bird species.

www.wormiratorybiray.or/

WO

RLdMIGRATORYBIRddAY

SHANGHAIWORL

dExPO

CLEANUPTHEWORLd

TYLERPRIZEfOR

ENvIRONMENTALACHIEvEMENT

vsawads

ad

World

Environment Day(WED) takesplace on 5 June.WED is a globalday or positiveenvironmentalaction and one othe United Nationskey initiatives tostimulate worldwide awareness

o the environment and encouragepolitical attention and action. WED2010 is anticipated to be the biggestever and communities the world overare encouraged take action to care ortheir local environment. This yearsglobal host or WED is Rwanda, and thetheme is Many Species. One Planet.One Future in keeping with 2010International Year o Biodiversity.

www.unep.or/we

UNEPSAS

AKAWAPRIZE


WORLdENvIRONMENTdAY


18/36

n of vl


NET PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS FROM CONSERVATION AND CONVERSION

(VALUE OF US$ IN 2007)

GeOrGinA LAnGDALe

coiios O ot eoois o eosssd Biodisi Sd

Every year the world is set to losebiodiversity and ecosystem services

worth more than the amount wiped obanks in 2008s crash. The Economicsof Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)study, hosted by UNEP, estimates that,if deforestation and land use changecontinue as at present, the world willsuer losses in natural capital worthbetween 1.3 and 3.1 trillion Euros.

That is more than the nancial capital wiped o Wall Street and LondonCity Banks in 2008, the worst yearin their history. And it will happenevery year.

The trouble is that natural capital iseconomically invisible and thatis one of TEEBs central concerns.

Biodiversity and ecosystem serviceshave conventionally been seen as

public goods: available to everyoneand providing enough for all. These

services include clean air, fresh water,richness of species, and the many other

ecosystem services provided by forests, wetlands, oceans etc. Assuming theirabundant and unfettered availability,

however, does not reect reality. The continuing losses of suchnatural areas are signicant, and theresulting impact on human welfare

is palpable.

TEEBs long-term purpose is toassemble the best available scienticand economic analysis on the eco-nomics of ecosystems and biodiver-sity, and to communicate it. It aimsto help policymakers, administrators,

businesses and citizens formulateresponses to address the losses around

us. For they have power to halt andreverse the losses of natural capital and

to improve the well-being of humanity,and especially of the poor.

What is worth more conserving natural ecosys-tems or turning them into areas for agriculture, shfarming, or producing timber? A study that comparedsuch conversion with conservation in both developed and developingcountries found that conservation including sustainable productionof market goods and services such as timber and other products, sh,

and tourism did better in every case.

Wetlands provide many valuable services to humanity as a study ofMuthurajawela Marsh, a coastal wetland in a densely populated area ofNorth Sri Lanka, shows. The study, which used valuation methods toestimated the economic eects of conserving the wetland, found thatsome of the benets to be gained from it such as shing, rewoodand agriculture contributed about $150 a hectare to local incomeseach year. But the greatest benets, which were gained by a much wider

group of people, came from its ability to treat domestic and industrialwastewater (worth $654 per hectare per year), and to attenuating oods

(at $1,907 a year from each hectare). These also avoid the need to pay forexpensive technological ways of preventing oods and treating water.


19/36OUR PLANET OUR LIFE 19

The TEEB study shows that biodiversity and what happens to it directly or indirectlyaects everyone. The crisis of its loss can only begin to be addressed in earnest if the valueof biodiversity and ecosystem services is fully recognized and represented in decision making.

This may reveal the true nature of trade-os being made, including those between dierentecosystem services such as food provision or carbon storage; those between dierent beneciaries

private gain by some versus public loss to many; and those at dierent scales such as localcosts bringing global benet and across dierent time horizons. When the value of ecosystemservices are understood and included, what may have looked like an acceptable trade-o mayappear the reverse. The 2010 International Year of Biodiversity oers an opportunity to denethe acceptable and learn the nature of value and the value of nature.

The TEEB Report for Business will be released in July 2010 and the TEEB Report for Local and RegionalAdministrators will be released in early September. For more information see www.teebweb.org

MARKET SECTORS DEPENDENT ON GENETIC RESOURCES

SECTOR SIZE OF MARKET (2006) COMMENT

Pharmaceutical $640 billion 2550 % derived rom genetic resources

Biotechnology $70 billion rom public companies aloneMany products derived rom genetic resources

(enzymes, microorganisms)

Agricultural seeds $30 billion All derived rom genetic resources

Personal care,

botanical and

ood and beverageindustries

$22 billion or herbal supplements

$12 billion or personal care$31 billion or ood products

Some products derived rom genetic resources.

Represents natural component o the market.

At rst glance biodiversity may not seem to have much to do with industry, but in fact many businesses and livelihoodsdepend on the genetic resources it provides. Such multi-bill ion

dollar industries as pharmaceuticals and agriculture will beseverely hit if biodiversity continues to decline.

One in every six European jobsnow depends to some degreeon the environment, and inmost developing countries the

link between ecosystems andemployment is even stronger.

EUROPEAN jOBS LINKED TO THE ENVIRONMENT (PERCENTAGE OF LABOUR FORCE)


20/36

spOtLight

OnsOLutiOns

Last year, the world passed an

important milestone as humanity,for the rst time, became apredominantly urban species: mostpeople now live in towns and cities.

Among the many ramications ofrapid urbanization is increasing

isolation from nature and a growing

tendency to forget just howdependent we are on the health ofthe Earths natural systems.

That is one reason the 2010International Year of Biodiversity is

so important. It is an opportunityto put a spotlight on what is

happening to biodiversity aroundthe world, and the implications for

our future. It is also a chance to puta similar spotlight on solutions, and

to mobilize action.

The Earths biodiversity is decliningprecipitously. WWFs Living PlanetIndex charts a 30 per cent drop in

vertebrate populations since 1970,for example; but that is a globalaverage masking bigger losses inthe tropics, such as a fall of 50per cent in tropical forests. Andthe Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change tells us that suchlosses will accelerate as climate

change takes hold.

The causes are no mystery.Humanitys footprint on the planet

has grown steadily larger andheavier. We are cutting forests fortimber, and clearing them to growsoy and oil palm. We are takingfar more sh than the oceans canprovide. We are pumping billions oftons of carbon into the atmosphere.

JAmeS P. LeAPe Dio-gl, WWF Iiol



21/36OUR PLANET OUR LIFE 21

We must move biodiversity fromthe margins of our politics and oureconomies to the centre. Biodiversityconservation is a moral imperative to

many of us it is also an economic,social and security imperative foreveryone. We have to nd waysto bring home the simple but

powerful fact that the Earths livingsystems forests and deserts, rivers,

wetlands and sea grass beds arethe foundation upon which our

businesses, our economies, our livesare built.

That is why The Economics of

Ecosystems and Biodiversity projectsponsored by UNEP and othersis so important: it is beginning tocalculate the huge economic value

that biodiversity provides. Armedwith that information, we need toensure that we manage our lands

and waters to ensure the health oftheir ecosystems and nd waysto lighten humanitys footprint onthe planet.

There is a huge role for the privatesector. Private certication schemes

such as the Forest Stewardship

Council (FSC) and MarineStewardship Council (MSC) oermarket advantage to those whomanage resources sustainably, and are

becoming powerful forces: half of theglobal whitesh sector, for example, isnow participating in the MSC system.Some of the worlds most prominentcompanies including Unilever,Walmart, and Coca Cola havealso started to drive sustainability

in their own value chains, engaging

suppliers and customers to promotebetter practices.

But public sector leadership is crucial,since biodiversity is a public good.

That responsibility has typically beenleft to ministers of environment. To

be successful, however, it must alsobecome the responsibility of ministersacross the cabinet includingministers of forests, sheries,

agriculture, energy, trade and nance and heads of state.

Three international events thisyear oer big opportunities forgalvanizing action.

The Tiger Summit: This, the Yearof the Tiger in the Chinese calendar,

must be the one in which we beginto bring these big cats back fromthe brink of extinction. Saving thetiger is important in itself, and it

will also mean taking care of vaststretches of forest from India andIndonesia to the Russian Far East and the rich biodiversity and human

communities that they support.

In September, the leaders ofthe tiger range states gather inVladivostok for the rst ever tigersummit. Their ministers have

already agreed on a goal to doublethe numbers of the animal (from3200 to 6400) by the next Yearof the Tiger in 2022. If countriesnow begin to put big commitments

on the table, they can inspire aconcerted eort that can be amajor step forward in conserving

Asias biodiversity.

The Convention on Biological

Diversity: When the Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversitymeet in Nagoya, Japan, in October,they will agree on new goals. They

fell far short of the target they setfor 2010, and the most importantlesson is clear: they must nd

ways to inspire action across all

sectors of the economy, and al l partsof their governments.

Overall goals for protecting

and restoring biodiversity mustbe complemented by concrete,actionable targets that provide clear

mandates for implementation.The target of zero net deforestationby 2020, already endorsed bymore than 60 governments, is oneexample. Others could includecreating marine protected areasto cover 20 per cent of eachcountrys territorial waters, and

elimination of subsidies that drivehabitat destruction.

The UN Climate Negotiations:Climate change is the transcendentthreat to the Earths biodiversity, so

mobilizing a global response is anurgent priority. If we are thoughtless

in crafting this, however, it could

prove to be a threat in itself. It isimportant that we reduce emissionsfrom land use in a way that supports

conservation of natural habitats,and that adaptation programmesinvest, for example, in conservingmangroves and wetlands instead of

constructing dams and sea walls.

After the disappointment ofCopenhagen, many wonder what

can be accomplished when parties tothe UN climate convention gatheragain in Cancun next November.One clear opportunity for action isREDD+ reducing emissions fromdeforestation and forest degradation.

Thanks to leadership from Brazil,France, Norway and others, thereis real momentum for creating a

global regime to compensate actionon deforestation. Done right, it

could be a major step forward in

conserving the Earths biodiversity.

Whether at home on a farm or like most of us now in a city,everyone has a vital interest in

the health of the Earths livingsystems. The International Yearof Biodiversity oers theopportunity to bring that interestto the fore, and to begin to get

the cause of sustainability into the

mainstream of our societies in veryconcrete ways.

Saing the tigeris important in itsel,and it will also meantaking care o ast stretcheso orest om Indiaand Indonesia to theRussian Far East and the rich biodiersityand human communitiesthat they support.


22/36

time tOthink

BigDoes the designation of 2010 as the rst-ever International Year of Biodiversitymean anything at all? Is it just a publicity stunt, with no engagement on thereal, practical issues of conservation?

Eight years ago 183 of the worlds governments committed themselves toachieve by 2010 a signicant reduction of the current rate of biodiversityloss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to povertyalleviation and to the benet of all life on Earth. This was hardly visionary

the focus was not on stopping extinctions or loss of key habitats, but simplyon slowing their rate of loss but it was, at least, the rst time the nations

of the world had pledged themselves to any form of concerted attempt to faceup to the ongoing degradation of nature.

SimOn n. StUArt

ci o Spis Silcoissio o Iiol uioo cosio o n dvisii Posso, uisi o B, uK



23/36

Now the results of all the analysesof conservation progress since2002 are coming in, and there is aunanimous nding: the world hasspectacularly failed to meet the2010 Biodiversity Target, as it iscalled. Instead species extinctions,habitat loss and the degradation of

ecosystems are all accelerating. To give a few examples: declines and

extinctions of amphibians due todisease and habitat loss are getting worse; bleaching of coral reefsis growing; and large animals inSouth-East Asia are moving rapidlytowards extinction, especiallyfrom overhunting and degradationof habitats.

In October the worlds governmentswill convene in Nagoya, Japan, for theConvention on Biological Diversitys

Conference of the Parties. Many ofus hope for agreement there on new,much more ambitious biodiversity

targets for the future. The rsttest of whether or not the 2010International Year of Biodiversitymeans anything will be whether or

not the international community cancommit itself to a truly ambitious

conservation agenda.

The early signs are promising.Negotiating sessions around the

world have produced 20 new drafttargets for 2020. Collectivelythese are nearly as strong as manyof us hoped, and certainly muchstronger than the 2010 Biodiversity

Target. They include: halving theloss and degradation of forests and

other natural habitats; eliminatingovershing and destructive shingpractices; sustainably managing allareas under agriculture, aquacultureand forestry; bringing pollution fromexcess nutrients and other sourcesbelow critical ecosystem loads;controlling pathways introducing

and establishing invasive alienspecies; managing multiple pressureson coral reefs and other vulnerableecosystems aected by climate

change and ocean acidication;eectively protecting at least 15 percent of land and sea, including the

areas of particular importance forbiodiversity; and preventing theextinction of known threatenedspecies. We now have to keep upthe pressure to prevent these frombecoming diluted.

We at the International Union for

Conservation of Nature (IUCN) arepushing for urgent action to stopbiodiversity loss once and for all.

The well-being of the entire planet and of people depends on ourcommitting to maintain healthy

ecosystems and strong wildlifepopulations. We are thereforeproposing, as a mission for 2020,to have put in place by 2020 allthe necessary policies and actions

to prevent further biodiversity

loss. Examples include removinggovernment subsidies which damagebiodiversity (as many agriculturalones do), establishing new naturereserves in important areas for

threatened species, requiringsheries authorities to follow theadvice of their scientists to ensurethe sustainability of catches, anddramatically cutting carbon dioxideemissions worldwide to reduce

the impacts of climate change andocean acidication.

If the world makes a commitmentalong these lines, then the 2010International Year of Biodiversity

will have been about more thanplatitudes. But it will still only be

a start: the commitment needsto be implemented. We need tolook for signs this year of a realchange from governments andsociety over the priority accorded

to biodiversity.

One important sign will be theamount of funding that governments

pledge this year for replenishingthe Global Environment Facility(GEF), the worlds largest donorfor biodiversity conservation indeveloping countries. Between 1991

and 2006, it provided approximately$2.2 billion in grants to supportmore than 750 biodiversity projectsin 155 countries. If the GEF isreplenished at much the same level

as over the last decade we shallknow that the governments are still

in business as usual mode. But if itis doubled or tripled in size, then weshall know that they are starting to

get serious.

IUCN estimates that even a triplingof funding would still fall far short

of what is needed to halt biodiversityloss. Some conservationists have

suggested that developed countriesneed to contribute 0.2 per cent of

gross national income in overseasbiodiversity assistance to achieve

this. That would work out at roughly$120 billion a year though ofcourse this would need to come

through a number of sources, not justthe GEF. It is tempting to think thatthis gure is unrealistically high,but it is small change compared tothe expenditures governments havecommitted to defence and bank bail

outs. It is time for the conservationmovement to think big. We areaddressing problems that are hugelyimportant for the future of this

planet and its people, and they will

not be solved without a huge increasein funds.

One important sign

will be the amount

o unding that

governments pledge

this year or

replenishing the

Global Environment

Facility (GEF),

the worlds largest

donor or biodiersity

conseration in

deeloping countries.



24/36

With such emerging countries asChina, India and Brazil now major

players on the international stage,it is clear that we live in a new,multi-polar world. But thetraditional divide between

developed and developing countriesisnt the only glass wall that needs to

be shattered. The development andenvironment communities must stop

viewing their goals as separate, oreven at odds with each other.

As nature declines, so do the many

vital goods and services it providesto people. These range from thelife-giving fresh water, food,

wood fuel, ood protection tothe life-arming recreation

and spiritual enrichment. Whenseveral hundred scientists examinedthe health of 24 ecosystem services

globally for the 2005 MillenniumEcosystem Assessment, only four

had shown improvement over thepast 50 years. A startling 15 were inserious decline, while ve hung inthe balance.

Ecosystem degradation inevitablyhits the poor hardest. Three-quarters of the worlds poor live inrural communities and rely heavily

on nature for their livelihoods.One eye-opening study in Indiafound that while the value of forestservices such as fresh water, soilnutrients and non-timber forestproducts amounted only to about7 per cent of GDP, it represented57 per cent of the income of therural poor.

Given the relentless erosion ofthe Earths natural resources, and

their importance to poor ruralcommunities, it is hardly surprising

that we are not on track to meet thepoverty-combatting MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs). Oncurrent trends, most developing

countries are likely to miss many ofthem. Progress on the Convention

on Biological Diversity is alsodisappointing. Protected area

shattering

gLass WaLLs

JAnet rAnGAnAthAn vi-Psid, Si d rs,Wold rsos Isi

POLLy GhAZi Wi/edio,Wold rsos Isi



25/36

coverage may have doubled in thepast two decades, but many unique

habitats are protected only in name.Alarmingly, funding for biodiversityprojects particularly by the WorldBank has fallen signicantly in thepast three years.

If we are to get back on track tomeet these global challenges we

need to invest in nature, so as toimprove the livelihoods of the poor.

A new World Resources Institutereport, Banking on Natures Assets,presents a roadmap for multilateraldevelopment banks (MDBs) key nanciers of developingcountries on how to do exactlythat, presenting strategies and toolsthey can employ in mainstreamingecosystem services into their policies,

programmes and projects.

The MDBs are moving slowly inthe direction of factoring ecosystemservices into decision-making.But to strengthen the business case

for investing development dollars inecosystems, they need to expand thefocus of their cost-benet analysisbeyond marketed goods, such as

timber and crops, to include naturesregulating and cultural services.

Such an approach highlights the

value of ecosystem services thatoften do not show up in a traditionalaccounting approach. In Costa Rica,for example, pollination by wild beesfrom adjacent forests boostedcoee yield close to forests by aquarter: protecting forests thus

translated into additional yield worth$60,000 a year on just one farm.

In Belize, tourism generated by coralreefs and mangroves represented

12-15 per cent of GDP in 2007. InThailand, the economic value ofmangroves rose from around $800 toover $35,000 per hectare when theirrole in providing coastal protectionand sh nurseries was included in acost-benet analysis.

Up-front assessment of ecosystemservice trade-os can also improverisk management, leading to more

robust and equitable development.Dams supplying power to cities,

or irrigation for agriculture, oftendepend on upstream forests to

prevent erosion and reservoirsiltation. Yet they can undermine arivers capacity to support sheriesor sustain downstream wetlands

that provide coastal communitieswith water ltration and coastalprotection. Similar trade-oscan exist for developing countryshrimp farms which increase exportmarkets, but often at the expenseof the coastal protection and shnursery services provided by themangroves they replace. Palm oilplantations, increasing in South-East

Asia, likewise trade o the myriadecosystem services provided by

primary forests including carbonstorage, pollination, and erosioncontrol against exports.

The MDBs and their partnercountries need to build nationalcapacity to design policies and

incentives that align the interestsand actions of farmers, forest

owners, and other users of naturalresources with sustaining rather

than degrading ecosystem services.One way of doing this is to pay usersfor ecosystem services, but other

possible approaches include:

land zoning to protectecosystem service hotspots;

eliminating perverse subsidiesthat support activities thatdegrade ecosystems;

reforming taxation policies to

target those who benet fromor degrade services; and

certifying such sustainablyproduced goods as timber,

palm oil, and shrimp.

There is concern that the trend

towards ecosystem servicesapproaches will mean less money and

attention for protected areas.In fact the opposite can be true. Weneed protect nature both for peoples,and its own, sake. Action

on one front will strengthenoutcomes on the other.

How can governments, MDBsand UN agencies help to scale upecosystem services-based approaches?While experts on either side of theenvironment-development divide

peer through this glass wall moreoften these days, the wall itself it isstill too often there in developmentnance institutions and national

governments. Most economic andenvironment ministries are still at anearly stage of learning to speak each

others languages.

Such global institutions as the WorldBank, UNEP and UNDP can play

a crucial role in bridging the divide.They could convene ministers and

economists to shape macroeconomicsolutions to the linked problems of

ecosystem degradation and poverty.They could communicate thebusiness case that healthy ecosystems

are fundamental to economicdevelopment. And they could

provide guidance on investmentsin ecosystem services, and on

integrating the value of natural

capital into national accounts asthrough UNEPs The Economics ofEcosystems and Biodiversity project.

As Octobers much-anticipated10th meeting of the Conference ofthe Parties to the Convention onBiological Diversity approaches,MDBs and UN agencies shouldponder how to take a lead inshattering the glass wall impeding

progress on both preserving natureand combating poverty.


We need protect nature

both or peoples, and its

own, sake. Action

on one ont will strengthen

outcomes on the other.


26/36

PRINCE MOSTAPhA ZAhER,AFghANISTANINSPIRATION ANd ACTION

Aghanistans Director General o the National Environmental ProtectionAgency (NEPA), Prince Mostapha Zaher, has laid the oundation or a

sustainable and peaceul uture in Aghanistan. For the past ve years,he has worked tirelessly or the environment in a country ravaged by25 years o war, and continues to nd ways to bring clean, ecient andcost-eective solutions to the citizens o one o the worlds poorestnations. In 2004, ater the all o the Taliban, Prince Zaher and his amilyreturned to his homeland where he took the reins o the newly ormedNEPA. Since then he has turned the royal hunting grounds into a naturepreserve open to all Aghans, rewritten the nations environmentallaws, and pledged to improve air quality in Kabul by between 10 and 12per cent by the year 2012. With Zaher at the helm, NEPA has agreed toallocate at least 3 per cent o its core budget to environmental research

and development, and has plans to apply cutting-edge solar and windtechnology to address environmental concerns in Aghanistan.

dR. TARO TAKAhAShI,EARTh SCIENTIST, JAPANSCIENCE ANd INNOvATION

Dr. Taro Takahashi has devoted ve decades o his lie to discoveringhow carbon moves through oceans, land and atmosphere. His work is

the oundation upon which all carbon-cycle research is built. One o Dr.Takahashis key ndings is that most global CO

2resides in the ocean. He

has also made many important observations o oceanic CO2

absorptionand its variation depending on water temperature and season. Hisresearch is aimed at understanding the ate o industrial CO

2released

in the air, and developing a better understanding and a more reliableprediction o the oceans capacity to absorb CO

2with the aim o assessing

the oceans climate-regulating capacity. With nancial support rom theFord Company, which recognized his work with the Ford Award in 2004, Dr.Takahashi has been studying how climate change may alter interactionsbetween land and oceans, as well as the solutions or mitigating these

alterations. Dr. Takahashi is currently a Senior Scholar at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory o Columbia University.

popl

MOhAMEd NAShEEd,PRESIdENT OF ThE MAldIvESPOlICY ANd lEAdERShIP

Convening a cabinet meeting on the foor o the ocean in ull scuba regalia was one o President MohamedNasheeds well-publicized strategies to draw attention to the threats that climate change poses to theMaldives and other low-lying countries. For this and many other endeavours, the President has beenglobally recognized or his eorts to curb climate change and raise awareness o environmental issues. Forexample, he played a leading role in saturating the international media in the lead up to, and during, theClimate Change Conerence in Copenhagen in December 2009. President Nasheed has pledged to make theMaldives the worlds rst carbon-neutral country by 2020, and has tirelessly urged leaders rom developing

or vulnerable countries like his to break away rom carbon-based growth and embrace green technologiesor a carbon-neutral uture. He has received several awards in recognition o his pioneering environmentalwork including being named a Time MagazineHero o the Environment in 2009.

2010 UNEP ChAMPIONS OF ThE EARTh



27/36

BhARRAT JAgdEO,PRESIdENT OF gUYANASPECIAl CATEgORY BIOdIvERSITY CONSERvATION ANd

ECOSYSTEM MANAgEMENT

Guyanas 45-year old President Bharrat Jagdeo has gained international recognition or his positionon environmental issues within his country and on a global scale. Guyana has 40 million acres ountouched rainorest and President Jagdeo has been working on inviting donors and investors to payor the protection o the orests through the sale o carbon credits, or investments in ecotourism andpharmaceutical discoveries. With the money he expects to generate rom this trade, President Jagdeoplans on improving coastal inrastructure to protect the country rom potential rises in sea level.He has proposed that the UN Reduced Emissions rom Deorestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)programme adopts Guyanas model on orest protection and has encouraged the rest o the world tolive in a way where protecting orests is more economically prudent than cutting them down. He

served as Guyanas Prime Minister and Minister o Finance prior to winning the presidency in 2001 and2006. He is a ormer contributor to Our Planet.

ZhOU XUN,ACTRESS-ENvIRONMENT AdvOCATE, ChINAINSPIRATION ANd ACTION

Zhou Xun, the most popular actress in mainland China, was named

a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassadoror China in 2008 with a special ocus on promoting environmentalsustainability. Zhou Xun spends much o her time promoting tipsor green living through Our Part, a campaign she runs jointly withUNDP. Under this campaign, Zhou encourages people to reduce theircarbon ootprint through simple changes in liestyle, something thatcan make a huge dierence in a country o Chinas size. The campaigndemonstrates the enormous benets to be gained i most peoplein China drove less, unplugged idle appliances, avoided waste andpractised the three Rs: reduce, re-use, recycle. Zhou walks the talk:she works on reducing her own carbon ootprint and ollows her greentips in her own day-to-day lie. She also plants three trees or every

200 km o her own car travel and is planting many more to oset herfights rom 2008. Zhou will be the Green Ambassador or the 2010World Expo in Shanghai.

vINOd KhOSlA,KhOSlA vENTURESENTREPRENEURIAl vISION

A legendary venture capitalist and the co-ounder o SunMicrosystems, Vinod Khosla has been dubbed Silicon ValleysMr. Green. In September 2009, Khoslas venture capitalrm, Khosla Ventures, announced it had raised $1.1 billion

in a green und that would be used to spur developmento renewable energy and other clean technologies. The undcame at a time when venture capital investments in greentechnology were just beginning to recover rom a precipitousall prompted by the global economic collapse in 2008.O the $1.1 billion, $800 million will be invested in moreestablished technologies while $275 million will be usedto make smaller investments in earlier-stage technologycompanies. The und is the largest launched since 2007and one o the largest ever launched or clean technologies.Khosla, whose personal lie is carbon neutral, has begunseveral environmental start-up companies to try to reduce

the worlds dependence on petroleum. He believes that theburgeoning revolution in oil alternatives will be bigger thanthe Internet revolution o yesteryear.



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ho

Africa needs to increase its foodproduction dramatically, and to do soin a way that is sustainable, aordableand does not further threaten

biodiversity. Already around30 per cent of its people some218 million struggle with hunger

daily and its population is predictedto grow from about 796 millionin 2005 to 1.8 billion by 2050. Yetfood production per head has beendeclining and yields of cereals haveremained stagnant since the 1960s.

At the same time the size oflandholdings has consistentlyshrunk: four out of every ve ofthe continents farms are now of

less than 2 hectares in size. Farmersare trying to increase yields on

DenniS GArrity

Dio gl,Wold aoos c



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Eergreen agriculture

ofers

an afordable

and

accessible

science-based wayo better caring or the land

and

o increasing smallholder

ood production.

smaller farms with poor soils, amid

increasing climate variability andwith long-term climate changesahead. Often, their only hope ofproducing more food is to expandcultivation by felling forests, posinga major challenge to biodiversity

conservation.

Science-based solutions that buildon the best of local knowledgeand practices and are trulyaccessible and aordable are theonly way of ensuring agricultural

growth that combats extremepoverty while preventing further

deforestation. And hundreds ofthousands of smallholder farmersin Zambia, Malawi, Niger andBurkino Faso have indeed shifted to

farming systems that are restoringexhausted soils and dramaticallyincreasing both crop yields andincomes. They are applying the

principles of evergreen agriculture,which is emerging as a practice of

enormous potential not just forincreasing crop yields but also forintroducing more trees into farms

and preventing forest loss. It canbe broadly dened as conservation

farming that integrates trees withannual food crops and cover crops.

Conservation farming is alreadypractised on 100 million hectares ofland around the globe. It involvesthree basic principles: disturbingthe soil as little as possible (throughminimum or zero tillage); keepingthe soil covered with organicmaterial like crop residues; androtating and diversifying crops,particularly using leguminous

species that replenish soil nutrients.

In evergreen agriculture,incorporating trees into farmingsystems a practice known asagroforestry is added to theseprinciples. The trees usuallyoer many benets to the farmerand the environment, including

providing green fertilizer to buildhealthier soils and enhance crop

production, and yielding fruit,medicines, livestock fodder, timber

and fuelwood. They also provideshelter, control erosion, increasebiodiversity and oer greaterresilience to climate change, while

storing carbon.

Fertilizer trees which drawnitrogen from the air and transfer it

to the soil through their roots andleaf litter have been shown to beable to double average maize yields

or more. This equates to an extrathree to four months supply ofmaize for a family of six, assumingthe average African consumes 1.5 kga day.

One special fertilizer tree Faidherbia albida, an indigenous

African acacia already a natural

component of farming systemsacross much of the continent could be the cornerstone of futureevergreen agriculture. It exhibitsreverse leaf phenology, meaningthat it sheds its nitrogen-rich leavesduring the early rainy season and

remains dormant throughout thecrop-growing period: the leaves

grow again when the dry seasonbegins. This makes it highly

compatible with food crops, becauseit does not compete with them for

light, nutrients or water during

the growing season: only its barebranches spread overhead while the

food crops grow to maturity.

In Malawi, maize yields haveincreased by up to 280 per cent

when grown under the canopy ofFaidherbia trees. In Zambia andMalawi more than 100,000 farmershave extended their conservationfarming practices to include

cultivating food crops withinagroforests of Faidherbia trees.

Extensive observations indicatedthat maize grown near the trees is


Maize growing under Faidherbia trees in southern Tanzania


30/36OUR PLANET OUR LIFE30

dramatically more productive, andthat the soil gets healthier. Andin Niger, there are now about4.8 million hectares of Faidherbia-dominated agroforests enhancingmillet and sorghum production.

Evergreen agriculture oers an

aordable and accessible science-based way of better caring for the

land and of increasing smallholderfood production. It allows us

to glimpse a future of moreenvironmentally benign farming,

with much of our annual food cropsbeing produced within a forest offull-canopy trees.

Most clearing of forests for

agriculture is done by subsistencefarmers striving to increase

their production and incomes,and to escape poverty. As rural

population densities continueto rise, natural forests andthe services they provide areincreasingly threatened. A broadadoption of evergreen agriculture

oers smallholder farmers the

opportunity of improving theirlands productivity, thus alleviatingthe need for further agriculturalexpansion and potentially leavingmore natural forest intact.

Increasing agroforestry also oersthe potential to produce forest

goods and services on farms,

and so further protect biodiversity.And if carbon markets were to

become accessible to smallholderfarmers, this would result in an

ever greater number of trees inagricultural landscapes.

Such experiences with evergreenagriculture and Faidherbia oerthe basis for a proposed expansionacross Africa. A broad allianceis emerging of governments,

international donors, researchinstitutions and international

and local development partnerscommitted to expanding thisinnovative approach to farmingthroughout the continent.

This article has been compiled withassistance from the World AgroforestryCentres regional coordinators:Festus Akinnifesi (Southern Africa)

Jeremias Mowo (East Africa) andAntoine Kalinganire (Sahel).

Improved yields mean improved livelihoods and nutrition, and a route out of poverty


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www.unep.or

UNEPs 2010 IYB websitewww.unep.org/iyb/UNEPs 2010 IYB website has a wide range o inormation including a eatureon species o the day, conservation success stories, examples o technologyinspired by nature, news highlights, awareness raising activities and much more.

UNEP Biodiversitywww.unep.org/themes/biodiversity/This site has a particular ocus on biodiversity. It looks at UNEP-related programmesand activities, regional initiatives, publications, events and meetings.

UNEP Ecosystems Managementwww.unep.org/ecosystemmanagement/This is UNEPs homepage or Ecosystem Management, one o our six priorityareas. It has inormation on UNEPs Ecosystem Management Programme includingrelevant science, policy, publications, campaigns, news and events. Biodiversity isa key component in ecosystem management.

Global Programme o Action or the Protection o the Marine Environment romLand Based Activities (GPA)www.gpa.unep.org/The GPA aims at preventing the degradation o the marine environment romland-based activities, which are major threats to the oceans productivityand biodiversity.

Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP)www.unep.org/GRASP/GRASP is a joint UNEP and UN Scientic, Educational and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) project aimed at liting the threat o imminent extinction aced bygorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans across their ranges in equatorialArica and South-East Asia.

The Economics o Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)www.teebweb.orgThe TEEB study is a major international initiative to draw attention to the globaleconomic benets o biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs o biodiversity

loss and ecosystem degradation, and to enable practical positive actions.

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC)www.unep-wcmc.org/A collaboration between UNEP and WCMC that synthesizes, analyses anddisseminates global biodiversity knowledge, and provides quality inormation orpolicy makers and decision makers.

Bioiersity websites across te UN

T2010 IYBwww.cbd.int/2010/welcome/This is the Convention on Biological Diversitys (CBD) ocial page o the 2010International Year o Biodiversity (IYB). It has inormation about IYB, celebrations,partners, resources and how to participate.

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)www.cbd.intThe CBD is an intergovernmental treaty that aims to conserve biological diversity,ensure the sustainable use o the components o biological diversity, andensure air and equitable sharing o the benets arising out o the utilization ogenetic resources.

Convention on the Conservation o Migratory Species o Wild Animals (CMS)www.cms.int/The CMS is an intergovernmental treaty that aims to conserve terrestrial, marineand avian migratory species and their habitats on a global scale.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species o Wild Fauna and Flora(CITES)www.cites.org/CITES is an intergovernmental agreement that aims to ensure that internationaltrade in specimens o wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival andthat counters illegal trade through legally binding resolutions.

Ramsar Convention on Wetlandswww.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-home/main ramsar/Ramsar is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the ramework or nationalaction and international cooperation or the conservation and wise use o wetlandsand their resources.

Internationa

WWF World Wide Fund or Naturewww.panda.orgWWF is one o the worlds largest environmental organizations. One o its keyobjectives is conserving the worlds biological diversity.

IUCNwww.iucn.orgA global environmental network o governments, NGOs and volunteer scientistswith the aim o conserving the integrity and diversity o nature and ensuring thatuse o natural resources is equitable and ecological ly sustainable.

Bioversity Internationalwww.bioversityinternational.org/A global non-prot organization that undertakes research aimed at improving

peoples lives through the use and conservation o agricultural biodiversity.

Bioiersity:

useu inks

This page contains links to websites o governments,international organizations, non-governmental organizations,

businesses, media and other groups rom around the world tohelp you research issues related to biodiversity. We have compiled

these links rom our own review o the vast amount o inormationavailable on the Internet to help you to nd the most relevant sources

or your research. Our Planet magazine does not necessarily endorse theviewpoints o any o the groups to which we link, and we cannot guarantee

the accuracy o the inormation posted on these sites. Rather, we hope toprovide you with a broad range o opinions and perspectives.

www




There is far too little coverage ofbiodiversity in the media and thisis as much due to lack of interestfrom journalists as to the indierenceof editors. Journalists even nd itdicult to grasp what biodiversitymeans. They are used to askingwho?, what?, where? and so on,and the concept doesnt always lend

itself to such categorization: climate

change or even the hole in the ozonelayer are easier to comprehend. But

they can scarcely be blamed: a surveyconducted a few years ago of 25,000Europeans found that 70 per centcouldnt dene what it meant either.So, I recall American journalistscovering the 1992 Rio Earth Summitreferring to the controversial draftbiodiversity convention as dealing

with wild plants and animals

something everyone can understand.

The International Federation ofEnvironmental Journalists (IFEJ) a global network formed in 1993 has held several congresses around

the world, but biodiversity has neverfeatured as a theme. The International

Year should belatedly help tocorrect this.

This year the IPS International News

Agency, in collaboration with IFEJ andother partners CGIAR/BioversityInternational and UNEP/CBD haslaunched a global feature service whichis looking for new angles on biodiversity.

In particular, we are looking for thelinkages between natural diversity,

food security and climate change. The resulting suggestions for articles

provide an illuminating insight intohow journalists around the world view

the subject.

W

o?

DArryL DmOnte

Psid o Iiol Fdioo eiol Joliss



Some of the ideas were predictable.

A Bangladeshi journalist suggestedthe threat to the Royal Bengal Tigeras islands in the Sundarbans deltaare swamped by sea level

Biodiversity : Our life

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