IPBES

Global Coalition for Biodiversity Launched on World Wildlife Day 2020

In the context of the 2020 ‘Super Year for Nature’, the IPBES secretariat welcomes the formation of the ‘United for Biodiversity’ coalition, made up of zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, national parks, and natural history and science museums from around the world, launched on this World Wildlife Day by the European Commission. The coalition offers the opportunity for all such institutions to “join forces and boost public awareness about the nature crisis, ahead of the crucial COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in October 2020,” when nations will adopt a new global framework to protect and restore nature.

“These organisations are vital not only for cataloguing and preserving the natural world, but are indispensable and invaluable centres for education and mobilisation – particularly for young leaders and decision-makers of the future,” said IPBES Executive Secretary Anne Larigauderie. “There has never been a point in human history where the state of nature has been so degraded, and the decisions we make about nature today have never been as critical. Creating a sustainable future means facing the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss head on – informed by the best available evidence and science. I applaud the United for Biodiversity coalition for placing the nature crisis front and centre. Every person has an important part to play in the transformative change we need for people and nature.”

Echoing the IPBES Global Assessment findings on transformative change, the European Commission “encourages national, regional, and local authorities, non-governmental organisations, business, scientists and individual citizens to play their part in raising awareness ahead of the UN Biodiversity summit.”

The European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginius Sinkevičius said, “It is crucial that all of us learn just how real the nature crisis has become. We urgently need to take global action to protect and restore biodiversity. Otherwise much of the nature we love, and depend on for our food, health, and economy, is in danger of disappearing forever.”

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