“Biodiversity starts in the distant past and it points toward the future.”
– Frans Lanting
At the heart of everything we do at The Salazar Center is finding equitable and inclusive solutions to reversing the loss of biodiversity. So, we love a good excuse to elevate and celebrate nature’s critical role in our lives. In this light, the International Day of Biodiversity resonates deeply with our values. For almost a quarter century, the United Nations has gathered the world to celebrate this day with the sole intent of increasing our collective understanding and awareness of biodiversity.
Supporting conservation work that protects and restores biodiversity matters. Recent studies have found that globally, almost $44 trillion of economic value generation – over half the world’s total GDP – is moderately or highly dependent on nature. Biodiversity loss is also deeply linked to human health worldwide. And yet, sometimes doing the work of conservation can feel daunting, even Sisyphean. That is why we were so encouraged to see the results from a recent meta-analysis of over 180 conservation interventions published in Science. The researchers found that in two-thirds of cases, the interventions either improved biodiversity or slowed declines. Not only did they find that the interventions were effective, but they also had large, measurable impacts.
A few things really stood out to me as I read this article. First, the results were not restricted to one type of conservation intervention. Impact was found across a spectrum of project types. Similarly, the positive impact was not restricted to one geography or ecosystem type. This shows that the tools that are already in our toolbox can and should be deployed in more places. Results such as this show that our work is not Sisyphean, and there are solid, science-backed reasons to keep doing the work. Turns out conservation works, and we should do more of it!
But as we consider how to scale up the conservation work necessary to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, we need to think about doing more of it in a way that centers people and the expertise embedded in local communities. We heard this clarion call repeatedly at our last International Symposium on Conservation Impact. When we work to convene conservation thought leaders or work to build the capacity of practitioners to lift their projects off the ground, we are always working with that lens in mind. We believe that getting to durable conservation solutions can only happen when the people on the ground – from all walks of life – are heard, empowered, and have the resources to make change happen.
This year’s International Day of Biodiversity theme is “Be Part of the Plan”. This represents a call to action for everyone around the globe to do something – big or small – to contribute to protecting biodiversity. We could not agree more! But everyone needs to be part of the plan and our policies and funding need to recognize, incentivize and support that vision of inclusive action.
From the United Nations:
The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. When first created by the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly in late 1993, 29 December (the date of entry into force of the Convention of Biological Diversity), was designated The International Day for Biological Diversity. In December 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted 22 May as IDB, to commemorate the adoption of the text of the Convention on 22 May 1992 by the Nairobi Final Act of the Conference for the Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This was partly done because it was difficult for many countries to plan and carry out suitable celebrations for the date of 29 December, given the number of holidays that coincide around that time of year.