[xtypo_dropcap]O[/xtypo_dropcap]n Monday, a 12-day Conference of Parties to the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) started in Nagoya, Japan, with a clear message that human activity is killing the Earth’s capacity to sustain human well-being and the need for the conference to form a commitment to find a way to reverse this trend, the U.N. News Center reported.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, the executive secretary of CBD, said that species extinction rates are now a thousand times higher than the natural rate. Achim Steiner, the executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, emphasized that according to a 2005 assessment, 60 percent of the things in the world’s ecosystems that make humans live well are degraded. And instead of “exercising the brake, the world continues to choose the accelerator,” he said, the U.N. reported.
Both indicated that nature is in a critical state and hoped the conference would be able to admit to the facts.
“Let’s have the courage to look in the eyes of children and admit that we have failed,” Djoghlaf said. “If that is what science is telling us, what will this meeting tell the world it is doing about it?” Steiner said, encouraging the 15,000 participants from 193 parties.
The conference participants listened to several speeches and will negotiate a new plan on biodiversity for the next decade, which will be taken to the world leaders on Oct. 27.
Ahmed Djoghlaf, the executive secretary of CBD, said that species extinction rates are now a thousand times higher than the natural rate. Achim Steiner, the executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, emphasized that according to a 2005 assessment, 60 percent of the things in the world’s ecosystems that make humans live well are degraded. And instead of “exercising the brake, the world continues to choose the accelerator,” he said, the U.N. reported.
Both indicated that nature is in a critical state and hoped the conference would be able to admit to the facts.
“Let’s have the courage to look in the eyes of children and admit that we have failed,” Djoghlaf said. “If that is what science is telling us, what will this meeting tell the world it is doing about it?” Steiner said, encouraging the 15,000 participants from 193 parties.
The conference participants listened to several speeches and will negotiate a new plan on biodiversity for the next decade, which will be taken to the world leaders on Oct. 27.
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