"In 2010, politicians pledged to halt devastation of Earth’s wildlife. Since then, no progress has been made. And despite glimmers of hope, prospects look grim for next month’s top-level meeting in Canada".
"In 2010, politicians and scientists made a pledge to halt the devastating reductions in wildlife numbers that had been denuding the planet of its animals and sea creatures for the previous century. At that time, wild animal populations were declining by about 2.5% a year on average as habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, climate change and disease ravaged habitats and lives. Such losses must end within a decade, it was agreed.
Next month, conservationists and politicians will meet in Montreal for this year’s biodiversity summit where they will judge what progress has been made over the past 12 years. “It will be an easy assessment to make,” said Andrew Terry, the director of conservation at ZSL, the Zoological Society of London. “Absolutely no progress has been made. Populations have continued to decline at a rate of around 2.5% a year. We haven’t slowed the destruction in the slightest. Our planet’s biodiversity is now in desperate peril as a result.”
The aim of the Canadian Cop15 biodiversity summit is to adopt a globally agreed plan – the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework – for living in harmony with nature. The vision is that by 2050, biodiversity will be valued, restored and conserved. Prospects of success look grim, however – a point emphasised last month in the WWF’s Living Planet report 2022, which uses data from the ZSL’s Living Planet index. It highlighted some of the starkest effects humans have had on life on Earth."
