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Biodiversity encompasses the entire variety of life on Earth. It not only incorporates all species of animal and plant,
but also their genetic variation, and the intricate ecosystems of which they are part.
As a result, biodiversity forms an essential component of the Earth’s life support system.
It supports many basic natural services for humans, such as clean air, fresh water and fertile soil.
The loss of biodiversity could heavily impact human well-being leading to worsening health, lower food security, increasing vulnerability, lower material wealth and worsening social relations.
Human actions are fundamentally changing the diversity of life on Earth.
Over the past few hundred years, species extinction rates have increased by as much as 1,000 times the background level as a result of human activity.
In all regions of the world, ecosystems are being simplified and degraded with
unprecedented magnitude and genetic diversity has declined globally (Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).
In response to this situation, the international community agreed "to
achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss
at global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation
and to the benefit of all life on Earth". This '2010 biodiversity target'
was adopted by governments in 2002 at the 6th Conference of the Parties (COP 6)
of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (Decision
VI/26), was later endorsed at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), and has been included in the
Millennium Development Goal on environmental sustainability.
An essential part of reaching the 2010 biodiversity target is being able to
measure and communicate progress. For this the 2004 CBD COP 7 adopted a
framework, which included the use of a range of indicators (Decision
VII/30 and
SBSTTA X/5) and based on the report of an expert group specifically formed
for this purpose (AHTEG).
COP 8 in 2006 (Decision VIII/15)
further elaborates this framework and acknowledges the establishment of the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP) a global
initiative to further develop and promote indicators for the consistent monitoring and assessment of biodiversity.
The 2010 BIP has been established
with major support from the
Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Two decisions from CBD COP 9 in 2008 specifically refer to the 2010 BIP
(Decision IX/9 and Decision IX/10), both of which relate to the production of the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 (GBO-3).
The Partnership will continue to the year 2010 and beyond to provide the best available information on biodiversity trends to all its users, and to promote the various ways in which the global indicators can be applied and communicated. The 2010 BIP is a dynamic partnership and welcomes comments and contributions for improving information to reduce biodiversity loss.
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