This week’s SoroptiVoice blog comes from Ruth Dodd SIGBI
Assistant Programme Director for Environmental Sustainability. Ruth has been a
member of SI since 1997 and is president elect of her club SI Amber Valley in
the UK.
The term biodiversity describes the variety of life on
Earth, from micro-organisms to whales, along with the habitats they depend
upon. Watching two programmes on
television on one evening this week made me even more aware of the importance
of biodiversity, the interdependence of species and the impact we humans can
have on our environment. One programme showed unexpected relationships between
animals and the other highlighted the disastrous effects that human actions can
have on biodiversity by introducing alien species and affecting the balance of
nature.
In 2010 in Nagoya, Japan,
parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Strategic Plan
for Biodiversity 2011-2020 with the purpose of inspiring action in support of
biodiversity. This plan has 5 goals with 20 targets.
“Biological diversity underpins ecosystem
functioning and the provision of ecosystem services essential for human well-being.
It provides for food security, human health, the provision of clean air and
water; it contributes to local livelihoods, and economic development, and is
essential for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, including
poverty reduction.”
www.cbd.int/doc/strategic-plan/2011-2020/Aichi-Targets-EN.pdf
Most of the targets are common sense, examples include: sustainable
agriculture and forestry, avoiding overfishing, maintaining genetic diversity,
reducing pollution. Especially relevant to Soroptimists is Target 14: By 2020, ecosystems that provide essential
services, including services related to water, and contribute to health,
livelihoods and well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking into account
the needs of women, indigenous and local communities, and the poor and
vulnerable.
The countries who have signed the Convention on Biodiversity
are listed on the web site www.cbd.int/sp2020.
Has your government signed? If it has
can you ask if they have achieved any of the targets?
There is evidence that climate and biodiversity are
interrelated. Climate change is forcing
biodiversity to adapt either through shifting habitat, changing life cycles, or
the development of new physical traits. Biodiversity can support efforts to
reduce the negative effects of climate change. Conserved or restored habitats
can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus helping to address climate
change by storing carbon (for example, reducing emissions from deforestation
and forest degradation). Moreover, conserving intact ecosystems, such as
mangroves, for example, can help reduce the disastrous impacts of climate
change such as flooding and storm surges.
Insects perform many important functions in our ecosystem.
They aerate the soil, pollinate blossoms, and control insect and plant pests;
they also decompose dead materials, reintroducing nutrients into the soil. Climate change can affect the numbers and
distribution of insects. Food production is dependent upon pollinating insects.
Not all insects are beneficial. Here in the UK
livestock farmers have been affected by diseases passed on to cattle and sheep
by midges which have been able to migrate north because of warmer weather. Only
by living in harmony with nature, reducing our impact on natural resources and
preserving the diversity of species will we leave the planet able to sustain
future generations.