  Credit: Wikimedia Commons
By Ramesh Jaura
IDN-InDepth NewsViewpoint
BERLIN (IDN) - 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. And we all have a rendezvous with Planet Earth this year. In order that as many of us as possible feel encouraged to make it to the venue at the right point in time, the United Nations has launched some of the most innovative initiatives.
It is gathering facts and figures to underscore what 'Mother Earth' is worth to its inhabitants, particularly us -- the homo sapiens. 'The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)', hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and a myriad of other reports and initiatives are under way to provide a glimpse of the value of the Earth's natural assets and their role in development.
UNEP's new report -- 'Dead planet, living planet: Biodiversity and ecosystem restoration for sustainable development' -- says that ecosystems are estimated to deliver essential services worth between $21 trillion and up to $72 trillion a year, comparable to World Gross National Income in 2008 of $58 trillion.
Wetlands, half of which have been drained over the past century often for agriculture, provide annual services of near $7 trillion.
Forested wetlands treat more wastewater per unit of energy and have up to 22 fold higher cost-benefit ratios than traditional sand filtration in treatment plants.
Coastal wetlands in the United States, which among other services provide storm protection, have been valued at $23 billion annually.
GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY OUTLOOK
Another report, the third Global Biodiversity Outlook, was presented at the UN headquarters in New York in May this year. Explaining the main thrust of the study, a senior UN development official warned that, without swift action and renewed political will, current "alarming" biodiversity declines would continue, and some life-giving ocean and rainforest ecosystems would spiral towards collapse, threatening sustainable development and human well-being.
"The projections are dire," Delfin Ganapin, Global Manager of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme, said on May 10 at a press conference on the results of the GBO-3, which was also launched in a number of other cities around the world, including Alexandria, Bonn, Brasilia, Chamonix, London, Manama, Montreal, Nairobi, Panama and Tokyo.
Ganapin informed that the Outlook, based on more than 110 national reports submitted by governments to the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and compiled in close cooperation with the UN Environment Programme, is advising humankind to halt a "massive" biodiversity loss with consequences that would be much worse than previously thought.
NEW GOODWILL AMBASSADOR FOR BIODIVERSITY
In yet another attempt to lure the inhabitants of Planet Earth to the rendezvous, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on July 8 appointed acclaimed actor and conservation activist Edward Norton as United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. Norton said the issues of community development and conservation were close to his heart, and he hoped to channel the attention he receives for his work in Hollywood towards raising awareness of the UN's ideals and activities.
"I think that (Goodwill) Ambassadors in many ways can play a role in highlighting the models of success that the UN is promoting around the world," he said.
We have it from the UN that Norton's family has long been involved in sustainable development issues: his father is a conservation advocate and his maternal grandparents founded an organization to help provide affordable housing in the United States.
For his part, the new Goodwill Ambassador is very active in garnering support for conservation efforts, serving as a board member of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust and taking part in launching an innovative social networking platform called Crowdrise to boost participation in charitable work.
Last year, Norton ran in the New York City Marathon, helping to raise more than $1 million for local communities in Kenya. In his new role, Norton has vowed to work with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to put a spotlight on the "crisis of biodiversity" and ensure that world leaders take appropriate measures to protect the environment.
One of his top priorities as Goodwill Ambassador will be to increase "people's focus on the fact that human well-being is intertwined fundamentally with biodiversity". It is vital that "people realize that they are not separate from the web of life", he added. "Our ability to thrive as a species and as a civilization totally depends on that web of life."
Norton's appointment comes as the heads of government and State are set to discuss the issue (of biodiversity) at a high-level meeting at UN Headquarters in New York at the start of the General Assembly’s 65th annual General Debate in September.
UNDER-REPORTED
However, those involved in the daily business of driving home the significance of Planet Earth for the very survival of humankind are rather sceptical that we will be there in time for the rendezvous.
United Nations' top climate change official, Yvo der Boer, sounded far from optimistic in his farewell address in Bonn before leaving his job beginning of this month (July). "One major aspect of the climate change story that is perhaps under-reported is that of the green growth opportunities," he said.
Many, perhaps all, countries fear in one way or another that climate change action will constrain their economic growth. For policy makers in the industrialised world, the prime concern is whether jobs and a stable society will still be there in the future. For policy makers in the developing world, the primary concerns are economic growth and poverty alleviation.
However in 2009, recalled de Boer, the International Energy Agency found that the economic crisis has created a unique window of opportunity to shift the world’s energy sector onto a 450 ppm CO2 equivalent scenario, which gives us a 50 percent chance of keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius.
Many investments in the energy sector have been postponed as a result of the crisis. In 2008 and 2009, this also hit investments in renewable energies. But to a larger extent, it has affected investments in unsustainable technologies, which would have locked emission intensive technologies into energy sectors for the next 20 or 30 years to come.
He added: "As economic growth picks up again, it is critical to direct new investments into low emissions infrastructure."
This is indeed a chance the world cannot afford to miss. Nations can now seize the opportunity of greening economic growth through an effective UN climate change regime which can help mobilize significant amounts of capital towards green technology.
They can contribute to preserving soil's biodiversity that, as Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of UN Convention to Combat Desertification pointed out recently, is worth trillions of dollars.
There is obviously an enormous lot of trillions Planet Earth holds out for us: in terms of biodiversity of all kinds, including soil, green energy and green technologies before humankind evaporates as a result of global warming. (IDN-InDepthNews/09.07.2010)
Copyright © 2010 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
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