Scientists have warned against biodiversity degradation saying that the well-being of human beings is at risk as nature’s contribution to people dangerously declines.
They attribute the degradation to habitat stress; overexploitation and unsustainable use of natural resources; air, land and water pollution; increasing numbers and impact of invasive alien species and climate change, among other factors.
The biodiversity and ecosystem services reports released on 24th March 2018 at the 6th session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in Medellín, Colombia indicate that the damage to coral reef systems, mostly due to pollution and climate change endangers economies, livelihoods, food security, marine life and the quality of life of the people. Marine and coastal environments make significant economic, social and cultural contributions to the people of Africa.
“Biodiversity and nature’s contributions are the bedrock of our food, clean water and energy and therefore, we must act to halt and reverse the unsustainable use of nature or risk not only the future we want, but even the lives we currently lead,” the Chair of IPBES, Sir Robert Watson said.
Americas’ land-based nature’s contributions to people is estimated to be more than US$24 trillion per year, yet 65% of these contributions are in decline, with 21% declining strongly. In addition to the other drivers, there are increasing effects of climate change. This loss is projected to reach 40% by 2050. However, promising policy options do exist and have been found to work in protecting and restoring biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.
Asia-Pacific -Forests, alpine ecosystems, inland freshwater and wetlands, as well as coastal systems were identified as the most threatened ecosystems. Fortunately, the IPBES experts point to the success of countries that achieved rapid economic growth in gradually restoring and expanding protected areas – especially forests.
In Europe and Central Asia, a major trend is the increasing intensity of conventional agriculture and forestry, which leads to biodiversity decline. Luckily, some progress has already been made in mainstreaming biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people into public and private decision-making.
According to the regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystems conducted in Africa, approximately 500,000 square kilometres of African land is already estimated to have been degraded by overexploitation of natural resources, erosion, salinization and pollution, resulting in significant loss of nature’s contribution to people. The assessment also indicated that even greater pressure will be placed on the continent’s biodiversity as the current African population of 1.25 billion people is set to double to 2.5 billion by 2050.
Dr. Luthando Dziba, a scientist from South Africa said, “Africa is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and this is going to have severe consequences for the economically marginalized populations. By 2100, climate change could also result in the loss of more than half of African bird and mammal species, a 20-30% decline in the productivity of Africa’s lakes and significant loss of African plant species. Africa’s immense natural resources and its diverse cultural heritage are among its most important strategic assets that are at risk.” The authors of the Africa Report recommend better integration of indigenous and local knowledge and greater use of scenarios in African decision-making.
African Governments have, however, taken some measures such as the establishment and effective management of protected areas and networks of wildlife corridors; restoration of degraded ecosystems and control of invasive alien species and reintroduction of wild animal which have contributed to the recovery of some threatened species, especially in key biodiversity areas. Consequently, Dr. Anne Larigauderie, the Executive Secretary of IPBES said, “One of the most important findings across the four IPBES regional assessments is that failure to prioritize policies and actions to stop and reverse biodiversity loss, and the continued degradation of nature’s contributions to people, seriously jeopardises the chances of any region, and almost every country, meeting their global development targets.”
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