From agreement to action: build back biodiversity. International Day for Biological Diversity 2023

This May 22, International Day for Biological Diversity, is dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity. In this way, the historic agreement “Kumming-Montreal Global Framework for Biological Diversity” is promoted, reached by the representatives of the 188 participating governments, and signed on December 19, 2022, the last day of the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity Biological Diversity (COP15) held in Montreal, Canada. The agreement is aimed at developing global actions in favor of nature by 2030, to achieve protected and sustainable biodiversity by 2050.

The Framework proposes:

Stop and reverse the loss of nature, in a context of dangerous decline that threatens the survival of a million species and affects the lives of billions of people. Its objective is to safeguard and sustainably use biodiversity. CBD

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), signed at the 1992 Rio Summit, Second Earth Summit, was the first global agreement to address all aspects of biological diversity: genetic resources, species and ecosystems, and the first to recognize that the conservation of biological diversity is “a common concern of mankind” and an integral part of the development process.

Its objectives are focused on “the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits resulting from the use of genetic resources”. It promotes “the constant association between countries, based on scientific and technological cooperation, access to genetic resources and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies”.

The resources from biological diversity are those that have allowed the development of civilizations, which is why it is considered a “global asset” of great value for future generations.

The human diet is based on a high proportion of the diverse species of animals and plants, just as the development of traditional medicines is obtained from the surrounding vegetation of many populations. Species are being reduced at a dizzying rate due to human activities, so subsistence and health are increasingly compromised.

This is why even when we have enormous technological advances, we continue to depend on strong and healthy ecosystems, in order to have the essential resources for human life, such as water, food, medicines, and all the other elements that allow the survival of populations and the development of humanity.

Aixa Chacin
Editorial Director of SGK-PLANET