TRAFFIC joins European Commission’s Global Coalition for Biodiversity
Cambridge, UK, 23rd September 2020—One week before the first ever UN Summit on Biodiversity (New York, 30th September), TRAFFIC has officially joined the growing number of organisations endorsing the aims of the European Commission’s Global Coalition for Biodiversity.
The Global Coalition, called “United for #Biodiversity”, was announced by European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius at Monaco on World Wildlife Day on 3rd March 2020. It is aiming to raise public awareness around the nature crisis and the impact the loss of biodiversity is having on human society and the health and well-being of environmental systems.
The Coalition is enabling a wide range of institutions working within the conservation sector—including research centres, national parks, aquariums, botanic gardens, zoos, science and natural history museums, among them the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP)—to reach out to millions of their visitors and members to help spread vital messages about the dramatic effects of the biodiversity crisis.
The united call for action raises the alarm ahead of the next crucial meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, scheduled to take place in China in 2021 where representatives from governments worldwide will draw up a new global framework to protect and restore nature.
Earlier this week the fifth edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-5), the flagship publication of the CBD, was made public. It provides a global summary of progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets—none of which will be fully achieved by the 2020 deadline. As shown also by IPBES and the latest WWF Living Planet Report, one million species are facing extinction within decades, and action by everyone is urgently needed.
Sabri Zain, Director of Policy with TRAFFIC said “TRAFFIC is pleased to join the Global Coalition for Biodiversity, because, like millions of others, we are hugely concerned about the inexorable loss of biodiversity and the global failure to arrest and reverse the decline. The current pandemic has clearly demonstrated the close links between wildlife and the human environment. The world needs to recognise the huge value of wild resources to the health and well-being of the planet and that of human kind. Sustainable use of these resources must be a central pillar within the new strategy to protect the future of our planet.”
TRAFFIC joins hundreds of institutions who are already members of the Coalition and encourages others to do so too. More information on how to do so is available here.
