• 250 elm saplings given out to schools as part of the Great British Elm Experiment.
• Defra’s Darwin Initiative funding of 25 more wildlife conservation projects to tune of 6 million pounds
• Heritage Lottery Fund encouraging applications for UK biodiversity funding.

It’s not just unique wildlife that is lost, we lose out too. These figures reflect the declining health of our natural environment, which we take for granted to provide a range of ecosystem services from clean air and fresh water to fertile soil and flood defences.

Lost Life: England’s lost and threatened species , published today by Natural England, is the first ever assessment of the decline and loss of our natural heritage.

There are 55,500 species of plants, animals and fungi that are native to England. Of these, at least 40 are found only in England. Most of these are plants but there are also two fish species, two moss species, four invertebrates and nine lichens. A further 54 species, such as the leatherback turtle, sturgeon and freshwater pearl mussel, are threatened by global extinction.

The report identifies 943 species which are priorities for conservation action in England. These include all remaining reptiles, whales and dolphins, and a third of land mammals and butterflies.

Five groups of species have also been highlighted as important for international conservation. These include 21 seabird species that breed along the English coast and the five million waterbirds and gulls that visit our wetlands each year.

As well as the lost species, there are some heartening stories of species returning to England and 45 priority species have now increased in number. The chough returned to England in 2001 after being absent for 54 years.

The red kite and large blue butterfly have been re-introduced and are starting to thrive. Otters are now found in every county in England.

The main cause of species loss is human activity. After the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago, wildwood vegetation covered England. By around 4,000 BC humans began to have an impact on the landscape by clearing the forest for farming. By 1,000 BC half of the country’s woodland had been cleared.

But it is during the last 200 years, since the start of the Industrial Revolution, that we have had the greatest impact on our natural environment. Since then vast areas of natural habitat have been destroyed due to expanding farmland, more intensive farming, and changing woodland management practices.

To reverse the current decline in species, Natural England and their partners are now adopting a landscape-scale approach to conservation. This will involve restoring and managing much larger habitat areas and creating links between them rather than concentrating on small isolated reserves.

At the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), we support the 2010 initiative, and we want more organisations to apply to us for funding for projects that conserve the UK’s precious natural heritage. To find out more please go to the HLF webpage

The Natural History Museum provided an example of a species new to science for the Commonwealth Day service attended by HM the Queen on 8 March, in support of National Science and Engineering Week’s ‘What on Earth’ Campaign.

Hilary Benn attended the EU Environment Council meeting this week where a new target to halt biodiversity loss in Europe was agreed ahead of the Nagoya Biodiversity Summit.

Two biodiversity focused exhibitions have opened recently: The Case of the Deviant Toad profiles startling magnified images of deformed amphibians by artist Brandon Ballengee who explored the occurrence of these malformations in nature. Wild Planet displays of 80 astounding, prize-winning wildlife photographs along Brighton Promenade.

Silas Birtwistle is currently in residence at the Stables Gallery, Twickenham creating his driftwood project for the International Year of Biodiversity, A Table from Sea’s Edge New Views page
A new Views piece has been written by Dr Matthew Cocks, Chief Scientist at CABI who discusses how biological control can help safeguard biodiversity in the light of Defra’s decision to start releasing a psyllid insect to control Japanese Knotweed. If you would like to contribute an article at some point during the year, please contact Katie Edwards.

The IYB-UK sponsor, Defra, is busy getting news out on biodiversity initiatives while it can, prior to the forthcoming election purdah. Two stories emerged last week:

An Asian insect is to be released to stop the spread of Japanese Knotweed, one of Britain’s most invasive weeds. This was covered by BBC breakfast news and the Sun as well as the Mail and Daily Telegraph.
Gardeners being asked to switch to peat-free compost and grow-bags to help reduce Britain’s carbon footprint and to help preserve biodiversity, also covered by breakfast news and features in the Daily Telegraph.

Facts:
Almost a third of Europe's butterflies are in decline and nearly one in 10 species is threatened with extinction in the region.

For almost 1,000 years, the New Forest, one of England's most precious landscapes, has been shaped by the ponies and cattle that graze on its heath land and wood pasture. Now a £16m conservation agreement, announced by Natural England, is designed to safeguard these traditional grazing methods to preserve the rich beauty of these acres where kings once went to hunt.

Conferences IUCN UK will be holding a major conference hosted by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland at Our Dynamic Earth over 18-20 April. The Nature - What’s in it for me? conference will link UK and global activity together for the IUCN, provide a vehicle for developing common practice with partners and build relationships between the UK and the IUCN Global Programme.

Education and learning The Department for Children Schools and Families, with support from Defra’s partners in the England Biodiversity Group led by the RSPB, have published online Top Tips for schools to engage with biodiversity as part of their Sustainable Schools materials. You can get copies via the DCSF website.

On March 15th the European Union Environment Council agreed a new headline target for biodiversity for 2020 – the target reflects the old target for 2010 (halt the loss of biodiversity) but with an inclusion recognising the importance of healthy ecosystem functioning:

‘halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss’

For more information see either:
http://www.europa-eu-un.org/articles/en/article_9571_en.htm - for the full version http://www.biodiversityislife.net/?q=node/282 - for the short summary’

CITES, the only UN body with the power to ban trade in endangered animals and plants, did enact international laws which now extend protection to a rare salamander in Iran and the spiny-tailed iguanas of Guatemala.

But of the 42 proposals during the past two weeks, it was Monaco's proposal to have a complete ban on the international commercial trade in Atlantic Bluefin tuna, and the efforts to protect the hunting of sharks for their fins, that at the end proved the most contentious - and the conference's greatest failure.

Ivory ban upheld: Despite the marine failures, CITES has made a few strides in protecting other species of wildlife.
Over the years, trade in tigers, mountain gorillas and sea turtles has been banned. There still exist markets for these species but as a result of CITES such enterprises are controlled.

Tiger range countries, including China, reached a strong consensus in Qatar on the way forward to address pressing concerns of illegal trade threatening wild populations of Tiger and other Asian big cat species. CITES governments maintained their position against farming of tigers for trade in parts and derivatives.

There has also been a gradual recovery of some depleted whale species after they were listed on CITES' Appendix I, which includes species that are considered the most endangered by the international body.

The Doha conference also debated the nine-year moratorium on ivory trade that started in 2008. Tanzania and Zambia want a one-off sale of their ivory stockpiles. The CITES secretariat had recommended the rejection of both countries' proposals, citing a poor enforcement of poaching and illegal sales domestically. A separate proposal to downgrade Tanzania's elephants to a lower level of protection, which allows commerce if it is monitored and deemed sustainable, was also rejected.
African elephants, poached to the brink of extinction in some countries, have begun to recover. Trade controls have also enabled better policing of the illegal markets in animals like the East African Cheetah.

However, a US measure to increase protection of polar bears by having commercial trade of the animal completely prohibited, was defeated.

Porbeagle sharks, hit by overfishing in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, also won protection, while other delegates sought the protection of red and pink corals - which are being over-harvested for use in jewellery.

CITES also afforded protection to ocelots, jaguars, alligators and crocodiles, hunted for their skins, ensuring that these species have a better chance of survival.

FINALLY:
However, the number of those who say CITES needs a make-over has swelled at this convention; the forum needs to grow the teeth of the tiger it aims to protect. Only 120 of the 175 members attended the Doha conferences this year.

How strong an international body like CITES will be when it has no legal powers to enforce its rulings on member countries is anyone's guess.

But while the number of endangered species continues to spiral downward, scientists, marine biologists, and the environmentalists all agree that CITES is very much needed and plays a crucial role.

Partner developments for IYB IYB partner, the British Trust for Ornithology has launched its Nesting Neighbours website to encourage householders to survey the species nesting in their gardens. The project helps gather crucial information on trends in garden bird populations and behaviour.
RISC, the National Biodiversity Network’s Recording Invasive Species Counts project has now gone live, encouraging public participation. The Daily Mail 22.03.10 reported how scientists have drawn up a most wanted list of invasive species including the south-east Asian muntjac deer and are calling on the public to report any sightings to help track the foreign invaders’ spread and to work out ways to limit their expansion. Daily Mail 23.03.10 reported, they may look cute, but muntjac deer are branded a threat to our wildlife.
The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch public survey results point to the impact of the cold winter. More than half a million people counted birds in their gardens for an hour at the end of January. Small songbirds suffering most during the harsh weather reports the Guardian, Daily Express, Daily Telegraph and The Times. The coldest winter in a generation also impacted on mammals reported The Daily Mail, referring to recent surveys by British Waterways.

IYB partners within Scotish Natural Heritage and Scottish Biodiversity Forum have launched their site for the Scottish Biodiversity Week running from 15–23 May. Meanwhile Brighton and Hove’s Big Nature plans are now visible for the International Year, a fantastic demonstration of what can be achieved locally, and cross-linked to their partners across the pond.

The IYB-UK secretariat is working with partner Ten Alps, a major media, publishing and event company, to develop plans for the first Global Business of Biodiversity Symposium. The conference, to be held in July at EXCEL conference centre in London, will be of international significance and aims to achieve an unprecedented level of engagement with business and commerce on the issues of, and response to biodiversity loss. The conference organisers are working with our international partners including CBD and TEEB, IUCN. We also believe that many IYB-UK partners will be interested in participating in this development and opportunities around it. We will devote a full e-news letter to the conference shortly

IYB and biodiversity in the UK news
Last week’s CITES conference highlighted the role of the internet in fuelling the illegal wildlife trade and becoming one of the greatest threats to rare species. The Guardian 22.03.10

Reports in The Times 20.03.10 and an Opinion piece, criticise the CITES failure to ban Bluefin tuna fishing and polar bear hunting and argue that the UN Year of Biodiversity is also a difficult concept to grasp, despite all the evidence that surrounds us. The conference was harshly criticised by conservation groups who pronounced it ‘a disaster' after aggressive lobbying see The Guardian 26 03 10.

Wildlife charities are turning to military kit and expertise in the battle to save endangered species as poachers use increasingly sophisticated and militarised means of catching their prey, as reported in The Times 21.03.10

The Guardian talks to the RSPB about their much discussed plans to reintroduce the sea eagle to England, which is described as one of the most spectacular and daring conservation plans in Britain today. The Guardian 22.03.10

The moratorium on commercial whaling, one of the environmental movement’s greatest achievements, looks likely to be swept away this summer by a new international deal being negotiated behind closed doors. Independent 23.03.10

The British government, backed by nine of the world’s largest environment and science bodies, including the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the Royal Society, the RSPB and Greenpeace, is expected to signal that the 210,000sq km area around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean will become the world’s largest marine reserve. The Guardian 29.03.10

What is biological diversity? Why is it important? Why do we keep losing species, genes and ecosystems at unprecedented speed? What will be the consequences? What are the costs? And how can we reverse this trend? These and similar questions will be widely discussed throughout 2010. The goal is to help people understand how important biodiversity is for healthy and sustainable development on earth.

22 May is a special day in this regard: every year the world celebrates International Biodiversity Day on that date. This is a great opportunity to draw public attention to the issues at stake.

We would like our members to tell us what they are doing for this special day? Please can you let the office know (conservation@biaza.org.uk/communications@biaza.org.uk)know so that she can advertise your activities on the website.

Thanks!
For further information http://www.biodiversity-day.info/

As part of the 2010 International year of Biodiversity, 10 new First Class stamps show creatures for whom the future is by no means secure - as the Chief Executive of The Mammal Society, Marina Pacheco, explains.

The Scottish wildcat is one of the featured animals and the launch of this stamp took place at RZSS Highland Wildlife Park, as one of the partners of the Cairngorm Wildcat Project.
Link to the bbc website on this news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8617325.stm

It was a great event, and again thanks to Chris Mahon for organising it. More will follow in the next edition of Lifelines!

The aim is to record British species, habitats and conservation through photography, sound, video - 20 projects will be covered from Caledonian Pine Forest, to the National Forest, and rewilding our food at Hope Farm, Cambridgeshire to restoration of heathland in Surrey.
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Every year WMBD focuses on a different topic; this year’s theme is “Save migratory birds in crisis – every species counts!” - aims to raise awareness on globally threatened migratory birds, with a particular focus on those on the very edge of extinction – the Critically Endangered migratory birds. In line with the International Year of Biodiversity, the 2010 WMBD theme also highlights how migratory birds are part of the biological diversity of our world and how the threat of extinction faced by individual bird species is a reflection of the larger extinction crisis threatening other species and the natural diversity that underpins all life on earth.

What you can do
There are 31 species highlighted this year which include 2 held in BIAZA collections (blue-crowned laughingthrush and northern bald ibis). So if your collection holds these species, or even if you would simply like to promote the issues covered I would urge you to visit http://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/ for further information. You can access background information, promotional materials (poster/flyer templates/PR info) and register an event (this can simply be an additional 5 minutes at a keeper/education talk focussing on the issues).

The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) says that some ecosystems may soon reach "tipping points" where they rapidly become less useful to humanity.

Such tipping points could include rapid dieback of forest, algal takeover of watercourses and mass coral reef death. Last month, scientists confirmed that governments would not meet their target of curbing biodiversity loss by 2010.

The 2010 target of significantly curbing the global rate of biodiversity loss was agreed at the Johannesburg summit in 2002.

It has been clear for a while that it would not be met.

But GBO-3 concludes that none of the 21 subsidiary targets set at the same time are being met either, at least not on a global basis.

For further information please go to the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10103179.stm

We are encouraging our members to join in AND let NIW know what they are up to!

Examples of activities:
Start a beetle Drive encouraging schools and individual visitors to record the beetles they see. This could be launched by a beetle drive at the zoo during NIW or could be purely run during NIW as a one-off event.
Activities can include daytime and evening insect watching , trapping and/or hunting and identification, advice from experts, crafts such as mask making, model making and colouring or drawing packs; I-spy type sheets to inform about what common insects people are likely to see and a little about their biology, pond dipping, log pile making, building bug towers (perhaps ones people can take away) and houses; information panels for insect identification and explanations about diversity and how and why it exists
Advertise NIW at your zoo, in your members newsletter and website.
Promote NIW at other conferences and meetings
Make sure zoo and aquarium education depts and marketing depts are aware and inform visitors, distributing leaflets and putting up posters before the next holiday
Arrange bug walks for children at set times in the day (like feeding times) equip them with nets, lenses and pots and discuss what they have found after half an hour.
Liase with local natural history societies, local Natural England Office, Butterfly Conservation, RSPB etc about joint events hosted at the zoo.

Warren Spencer at Bristol Zoo (& Chairman of the EAZA Terrestrial Invertebrate TAG) says… "At Bristol we are working on the following programme". • Bug Scramble – a bug trail with questions, stamps and checkpoints. • An insect macro-photography exhibition. • An Insect Photography competition. • Visiting societies with stands around the zoo. • Website activities • A moth identification course. • Meet a bug sessions. • We also have volunteer related elements such as face-painting and antennae making.

PLAN EARLY FOR THE NEXT NATIONAL INSECT WEEK!!

All set for 22 May - IYB day!!
The press release from IYB-UK on the plans around 22 May highlights exemplars of the sort of things partners are doing. IYB have focused on public engagement and participation activities in particular.
The release points to only some of the specific examples of what’s on offer, but it is cross-linked to the partner event database, so this a final reminder to get your events registered if you haven’t already.
Do your audiences know why you are doing things for the year, and especially over this week and Biodiversity Day? Please visit www.biodiversityislife.net for further help and information.

In London the Natural History Museum’s hub event will include live links to partner activities in different parts of the UK.
How about encouraging young people to create a video record of your event? The details of the Young Darwin Prize for best biodiversity video reports are now available. The competition will be officially launched on 22 May at the NHM event.

Launch of Global Biodiversity Outlook 3

Monday 10 May saw the launch of the CBD/UNEP Global Biodiversity Outlook Report 3 (GB03) in capitals across the world. Many thanks to IYB-UK partner the Zoological Society of London who hosted the press conference coordinating with the IYB-UK secretariat, the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre Cambridge and the JNCC. The report stresses how natural systems support economies, lives and livelihoods across the planet and highlights the rapid degradation and risk of ecosystem collapse unless there is swift, radical and creative action to conserve and sustainably use the variety of life on Earth.

The Animal Lawsuit Project
This is an education workshop focused on biodiversity sustainability designed for children aged 5 to 14, previously delivered with great success at the 2010 LSE Literary Festival as part of the International Year of Biodiversity. It brings to life a version of the 1000-year-old eco-fable The Animals’ Lawsuit against Humanity. The story involves an enchanted island, a shipwreck, living species of all kinds (who have not encountered humans before), the King of the Spirits (or Djinn) and a court case that takes humans to task for stepping too far outside their ecological niche and not realising that all life is interconnected. Children become involved in an interactive storytelling performance where they become the voice of the animals and given a platform to consider and vocalise their animals' case against the humans in court. The organisers would be keen to develop relations with venue partners and others. Contact: Isabel Carlisle, Director, Tel: 020 7609 3734

British Waterways Wildlife Survey
Following the publication of the 2009 survey British Waterways are running their 2010 survey, for anyone to take part in until the end of September. The project gives everyone the opportunity to not only laze about on the river, but to record all the wonderful marvels of nature that make our waterways such a treasure.

First Global Business of Biodiversity Symposium
Plans for the GBOB are proceeding apace and while the introductory discount offer for partners passed on & May, there are still some places in the exhibition hall. Contact the organisers through the website to ensure your place. Thanks Bob Bloomfield (IYB)

The RHS Chelsea Flower show with its biodiversity themes have been well covered by the BBC. IYB-UK partner the World Land Trust achieved Gold Medal and Best in Section awards for their Saving the Atlantic Rainforest exhibit, while Paul Hervey-Brookes, got Silver Medal for the Bradstone Biodiversity Garden. Elsewhere it’s good to see the BBC Wildlife Fund echoing the messages and developing features including one on another IYB-UK partner - Conservation Grade Producers - showing how supporting biodiversity and maintaining food production yields could be achieved with proper stewardship.

Of course here in the Secretariat we get a very particular perspective, what did you do for the International Day for Biological Diversity? What is significant for you? Please do contact Katie Edwards if you would like to share a View with us (the most recent was provided by John Burton of the World Land Trust discussing their work towards conserving the Atlantic Rainforest. We want to hear from you.

Funding for biodiversity programmes
Heritage Lottery Fund announces £17million for landscape and biodiversity From chalk downlands to Cumbrian wetlands, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has just earmarked 17 million pounds to conserve the unique landscape and biodiversity of ten areas around the country. The funding enables rare landscapes to be protected, managed properly, and enjoyed by everyone. The Landscape Partnership Fund is an initiative that helps conserve areas of distinctive landscape character and supports schemes that provide long-term social, economic and environmental benefits for rural areas

IYB-UK partners the Galapagos Conservation Trust the BBC Wildlife Fund have a special Blue-footed Booby Day on Friday 18 June, featuring Springwatch presenters Kate Humble, Chris Packham and Martin Hughes-Games.

Led by the Royal Entomological Society National Insect Week runs from 21 to 27 June, it encourages enthusiasts of all ages to explore insect diversity in all its glory. Their interactive website provides all the information needed to get involved.

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Forthcoming Events and Conferences
GBOB developments
The new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will use GBOB (Global Business Of Biodiversity Symposium July 13) as an opportunity to look at UK policy on biodiversity. In the concluding session Angela Cropper, Deputy Director of UNEP, and Ravi Sharma, the Head of the Business and Biodiversity team of the CBD, will be looking at the importance of mainstreaming biodiversity management into economic and business thinking.
The chance to send IYB-UK partner delegate’s to GBOB for free has been extend until the end June - visit https://www.eventsforce.net/oasis/138/register and use the reference code IYBDEL to book your free places. There are currently over 40 organisations with stands in the exhibition space, and just a few stands remain – it’s not too late to discuss this with John Brown if you have been considering this option: John Brown at Ten Alps T. 07768 950028,

The End of Tradition?
The End of Tradition is an academic conference planned by Sheffield Hallam University for 15-17 September, looking at landscape history and change, cultural change and abandonment. The conference will have an international focus bringing together researchers from around the world. Prefaced by the words The Biggest Threat to Biodiversity in the 21st Century it will highlight the relationship between landscape, culture and biodiversity.

Biodiversity is life - Bob Bloomfield NHM

GBOB – TEEB report for business and the Secretary of State’s Biodiversity keynote
The Global Business of Biodiversity Symposium website now provides links to a number of the outcomes to the conference on July 13, These include the maiden speech on biodiversity from the Defra Secretary of State the RHon Caroline Spelman, and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Report for Business from TEEB, the launch of which set the tone of the symposium. IYB covered the conference in the IYB-UK website news, reporting on some of the key perspectives coming back from business. IYB are now working with Ten Alps to produce a report of outcomes from the conference to contribute to the business segment talks in Nagoya at the October COP10. The Convention on Biological Diversity’s business lead Ravi Sharma commented on the reach of the GBOB with more than 650 delegates and a high level of engagement with private sector organisations

Communicating biodiversity
At the GBOB side session on communicating biodiversity, Ed Gillespie of Futtera presented this interesting thought piece on ‘branding biodiversity’. It highlights the communication tensions between conventional appeals based around awe, wonder and love of nature, and those emerging out of monitorizing the value of ecosystem services which is so important for financiers, economists and governments - where assessments of land use practice will be a key aspect of future conservation policy and practice. These approaches both have validity, but to very different constituencies, and both approaches need an extra element – the call for action.

Ten biodiversity projects to help endangered species in the UK have been given grants worth two million pounds generated from landfill taxes. Outnumbered star, Daniel Roche came face to face with a toad at Trent Park in Cockfosters, London when funding group, WREN (Waste Recycling Environment Ltd), announced who will receive the money including a number of IYB-UK partner organisations.

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What will the Nagoya COP-10 about?
The primary reason for the International Year of Biodiversity 2010 is of course to help raise attention to the importance of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP10 which will take place in Nagoya in October. However what can we expect of this meeting which, I think it can be said, is hardly high on the media agenda? How big are the issues at stake? What will the agreements be focused around? The CBD COP10 will be about establishing new smart targets for measuring and future effort towards reducing the loss of biodiversity. It is also about looking at the political and social context of preserving biodiversity. Some of the key issues it will try to address include:

How to improve the relationship between the evidence of biodiversity loss and policy making. Often policy decisions are made with insufficient scientific understanding of the impact and consequences of biodiversity loss. A new international body known as IPBES (International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) is in the process of creation. Like the IPPC it would bring together science evidence with policy decision making at an international level. Also like the IPPC it would most likely have the additional effect of aggregating international media interest. But IPBES is only part of the answer, what has to be realigned for international governance of biodiversity to be effective?
How to encourage a much more embedded ecosystem service approach. Biodiversity is of huge value to people – it provides; protection from climate change, soil fertility, clean water, and fresh air, it’s the source of commodities such a timber, paper and fibres for clothing, and it is the raw resources for developing new pharmaceuticals and many other potential products. All this value nature gives for free, but when we lose biodiversity we pay the cost, through erosion of soil, increased risks of drought and flood, exacerbated climate change and a host of other things which threaten the wellbeing of people and the planet. Building the economic value of the natural world into our accounting systems is essential to mainstream the issue - so that it is addressed by governments, international finance and business.
How does the world share the benefits of biodiversity? Central to international agreement on biodiversity will be sharing the benefits of any exploitation of biodiversity and particularly its genetic resources. This agenda, known as Access and Benefits (ABS of biodiversity) is enshrined within the CBD and seen as essential to have the support of developing countries and of indigenous communities.
How to work towards treaties that will protect ocean ecosystems. The world oceans are according to many at imminent risk of biodiversity collapse due to over-exploitation and under-regulation, as they are outside national jurisdiction. A target for the future that they be subject to international treaties equivalent to those which govern Antarctica, and that these treaties protect marine and fisheries conservation zones which cover at least 15% of the ocean surface and the ecosystems beneath them to the ocean floor. Biodiversity is often poorly understood and few have the specialist skills to address the complex issue around managing it. How do we create a sea change in understanding through our formal education system and through public engagement activities. Without a significant change in the number of citizens who understand it will be difficult to realign society towards more sustainable goals.
How do we develop a new, joined-up approach to sustainability which embeds biodiversity? The ‘green agenda’ is fragmented and often conflicting when it reaches citizens and consumers who have little idea of the impact on biodiversity of the products they buy. There needs to be a consistent narrative joining biodiversity loss, climate change and sustainable development. From this, instruments for assigning the responsible practices of producers, for the assessment of shareholders, independent observers, the general public and consumers need to emerge - allowing the public to make informed and relevant choices to develop a more sustainable society.
How do we focus attention on our reliance on biodiversity as our only response to climate change? Many scientists see biodiversity loss as an even greater threat to the related issue of climate change. This is in part because we have no human technologies to sequester the greenhouse gas carbon-dioxide, though this is done naturally by biodiverse environments which are under threat. These include forests, coral reefs, tundra, salt marshes and bogs, and the open oceans. Go-engineering and carbon sequestering technologies remain doubtful with significant risks associated with them. Meanwhile mechanisms to recognise, protect, restore and to reverse the rate of loss of these natural systems, which are our only proven allies in combating serious global climate change, need to become mainstream.

What is certain is that while the outcomes of Nagoya could make a huge difference, the post Nagoya world we still have to face these issues, hopefully guided by agreements which will make the road ahead a little smoother.
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