Time’s up for the planet! No development without biodiversity

On Wednesday 10 October 2018, Ricardo Serrão Santos MEP Chair of the “Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management” Working Group of the European Parliament Intergroup on “Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Sustainable Development” chaired the event: “Time’s up for the planet! No development without biodiversity”.

Recent scientific evidence underlines the scale of the global biodiversity crisis and its impacts on economic development and prosperity, food security, health, migration flows and stability. Providing alarming evidence, these reports are a call for action we must not ignore.

Starting from this, the event will further explore the case of Asia through the recent publication of the Report ‘Larger than Tigers’. Asia’s rich diverse ecosystems have witnessed rapid population and economic growth and a large number of species is on the brink of extinction. The conversion of natural habitats to intensive agriculture, escalation in wildlife trafficking and a growing demand for minerals, energy, food and water are some of the greatest environmental challenges on the continent. In Asia like in other regions, biodiversity remains an irreplaceable component of livelihoods and its loss undermines community resilience and security. The Report compiles lessons learned from past and present activities, and proposes priority actions.

This event will also present current discussions on the future EU biodiversity strategy after 2020.The coming two years will require a large mobilization of partners around the world for the crucial follow-up to the current Global Biodiversity Targets post-2020.  In November a Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will gather in Sharm el Sheikh to prepare the ground for the decisive 2020 CBD COP in China. Efforts will be necessary to gather necessary support to establish an ambitious framework that will enable us to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.