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Happy International Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May, 2025. 2025 Theme: "Harmony with nature and sustainable development". This theme highlights how this plan for nature connects with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), showing that both agendas must advance together as they support one another.
In December 2022, the world came together and agreed on a global plan to transform our relationship with nature. The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), sets 23 targets for 2030 and 5 global goals for 2050 to stop and reverse the loss of nature in 25 years. Among its goals: restore 20% of degraded ecosystems and reduce the introduction or settlement of invasive alien species by 50%.
Success in the implementation of the KMGBF and the SDGs requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-society endeavor. We need all sectors to work together, including those of indigenous peoples and local communities, businesses, women and youth.
For those who don't know, biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth, it's also all the different kinds of life you will find in one area. It can be measured on various levels, for example, genetic variability, species diversity or ecosystem diversity. So, there are many kinds.
Biological diversity or biodiversity are the foundations upon which we humans build civilizations. Fish provide 20 per cent of animal protein to about 3 billion people. Over 80 per cent of the human diet is provided by plants. As many as 80 per cent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant‐based medicines for basic healthcare.
However, biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. Loss of biodiversity threatens all, including humans. It is occurring at an alarming rate, with recent estimates showing that species extinctions are currently 10 to 100 times higher than the natural baseline. This is largely due to human activities like deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and climate change.
This loss, of course, threatens essential ecosystem services, including pollination, soil fertility, and water purification, with direct consequences for human health. For example, the degradation of wetlands, which filter freshwater, has led to a 35 per cent decline in global wetland coverage since 1970, increasing waterborne diseases and reducing water availability for over 2 billion people.
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