Tackling the Biodiversity Crisis: what can we do to turn the tide on biodiversity loss?

In recent years, wildfires, flooding and extreme weather events have propelled environmental concerns into the mainstream. Yet there is one aspect of environmental change which often receives less attention, mostly because it is less immediately visible: biodiversity loss.

Biodiversity is the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecosystems in which they are a part of. It includes the diversity within species, between species, and within ecosystems.

There are four main ways in which we measure biodiversity:

• Genetic diversity – is the variety of genes within a species. Each species is made up of individuals that have their own particular genetic composition. Variation in genetic diversity is essential to the long-term survival of a species, as it enables evolution and adaptation within a changing environment.
• Species richness – is the variety of different species within a habitat or region. So far about 1.75 million species have been identified, although scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species (estimates range from 3 to 100 million).  
• Ecosystem species diversity – is the variety of species with a specific habitat or region that occur nowhere else in the world.
• Ecosystem diversity – is the variety of ecosystems in a given place, such as those that occur in deserts, forests, wetlands, lakes and agricultural landscapes. An ecosystem is a community of organisms and their physical environment interacting together. 

Biodiverse environments provide us with a wealth of natural resources. All our food systems depend on biodiversity, and natural ecosystems provide us with fuel, water, medicines and many other goods. Healthy ecosystems also provide us with ecosystem services such as soil formation, nutrient storage, and protection against natural hazards and disasters.

Reversing the trend of biodiversity loss is also an important part of the solution to tackling the climate crisis. Around one third of the net reductions in greenhouse gas emissions required to meet the Paris Agreement goals could come from ‘nature-based solutions’; actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems.

Biodiversity is declining faster than it has at any other time in human history. The current rate of extinction is tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10 million years, and it is still accelerating. Although the entire human population represents just 0.01% of all living creatures, humanity has already caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals biomass and half of all plants. 

Since the industrial revolution, human activities have increasingly destroyed and degraded forests, grasslands, wetlands and other important ecosystems. 75% of the Earth’s ice-free land surface has already been significantly altered, most of the oceans are polluted, and more than 85% of wetlands have been lost. 

Many scientists believe that we are at the start of a sixth mass extinction – defined as when over 75% of all species disappear within a short space of geological time (typically less than 2 million years). There have been 5 mass extinctions in the last 540 million years, according to the fossil record. The most recent was when the dinosaurs became extinct 66 million years ago. 

Extinction is a natural phenomenon, however human activities are accelerating the rate at which these extinctions occur. Human activity endangers biodiversity in at least five main ways: 

1. Changes in land and sea use – This refers to the modification of the environment in which a species lives, by complete removal, fragmentation or reduction in quality of key habitat. Multiple human drivers such as agricultural and industrial expansion have already led to the loss of 85% of wetlands, altered 75% of land surface, and impacted 66% of ocean area.
2. Over-exploitation of plants and animals – through harvesting, logging, hunting and fishing. For example, fishing is one of the most significant drivers of declines in ocean wildlife populations, with more than one-third of the world’s assessed fisheries currently pushed beyond their biological limits.
3. Pollution – habitats are being destroyed by untreated waste; by pollutants from industrial, mining and agricultural activities; and by oil spills and toxic dumping. 
4. Invasive species – are species that are found outside of their natural distribution range as a result of human intervention. They can compete with native species for space, food and other resources; can be a predator for native species; or spread diseases that were not previously present in the environment. The occurrence of invasive species increased by 40% globally since 1980.
5. Climate change – affects biodiversity as climate variables largely determine the geographic distribution range of species. When climate is no longer suitable, species either have to move, or they go locally extinct. Climate change exacerbates nature loss, which in turn reduces nature’s resilience to climate change – a vicious circle.

While most of us are now familiar with the Paris Agreement, and its goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C,  the Convention on Biological Diversity and the international targets to tackle the biodiversity crisis are less well known. 

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity. It opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and entered into force in December of 1993. This treaty has been ratified by 196 nations and seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services. It has three main objectives:

1. The conservation of biological diversity 
2. The sustainable use of the components of biological biodiversity
3. The fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. 

Failure to reach the 2020 Aichi biodiversity targets

In the 2010 UN biodiversity Conference in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, the CBD adopted a revised and updated Strategic Plan for Biodiversity which included 20 Aichi Biodiversity targets for the 2011-2020 period. 

These 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets were targeted around 5 strategic goals, setting benchmarks for improvements across drivers of biodiversity loss, pressures on biodiversity, the state of biodiversity, the benefits derived from it and the implementation of relevant policies and enabling conditions. Parties agreed to translate the overarching international framework into revised and updated national biodiversity strategies and action these plans within two years. 

Come 2020, at the global level none of the 20 targets were fully achieved. Six of the targets for biodiversity loss were partly achieved, however on the whole progress was shocking, and the other 14 targets , such as eliminating subsidies that are contributing to biodiversity decline, or halving the rate at which natural ecosystems are being destroyed, were completely missed.

If we carry on our current trajectory, biodiversity will continue to decline. However, available evidence says that despite the failure to meet the Aichi biodiversity targets, it’s not too late to slow, halt and eventually reverse current trends. 

The first part of the UN biodiversity conference took place online in October 2021. The second part is currently scheduled to take place in the third quarter of 2022 in Kunming Yunnan Province, China. This will be the fifteenth meeting of the parties (COP-15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and during this conference global leaders will set the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. 

According to the most recent Global Biodiversity Outlook report, this framework must include a portfolio of actions in the following areas, each of which is necessary but none on its own is sufficient: 

• Conservation and Restoration – Efforts to conserve and restore biodiversity need to be scaled up at all levels using methods that will depend on the local context, but include setting up protected areas, large-scale habitat restoration and improvements in the condition of nature across farmed and urban landscapes as well as inland water bodies, coasts and oceans.
• Climate Action – Globally climate change has not been the most important driver of the loss of biodiversity to date, yet in the coming decades it is projected to become as, or more, important than the other drivers. Efforts to keep climate change well below 2°C and as close to 1.5°C as possible are needed.
• Reducing environmental pressures – Measures are needed to address all remaining pressures driving biodiversity loss including invasive species, pollution, and the unsustainable exploitation of biodiversity.
• Sustainable production – Transformations are needed in the production of goods and services, especially food. This includes adopting agricultural methods that can meet a growing global demand, whilst reducing negative impacts on the environment.
• Reduced consumption – Transformations are similarly needed to limit the demand for increased food production by adopting different diets and reducing food waste, and in limiting the consumption of other material goods and services that affect biodiversity, for example in forestry, energy and provision of fresh water.

Humanity stands at a crossroads. Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and the pressures driving this decline are intensifying. 

In ‘business as usual’ scenarios the trend of biodiversity decline is projected to continue until 2050 and beyond, due to the increasing impacts of land and sea use change, overexploitation, climate change, and invasive species introductions. This projected decline will affect all people, but in particular will have a detrimental effect on indigenous people and local communities, and the world’s poor and vulnerable, because of their heavy reliance on biodiversity for their livelihoods and wellbeing.

We need to act on the biodiversity crisis. At Ecologi, we plant native and biodiverse trees, helping to restore forest cover and bringing biodiversity back to areas where it has been lost. We also fund projects to protect existing forests, and to restore other ecosystems including peatlands. You can read more about how our projects are helping support biodiversity here, or sign up to Ecologi and help contribute to these projects.  

We have an opportunity to act, and turn this trend of loss around. Let’s make this the decade that we take meaningful action on the biodiversity crisis.

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