International Day for Biological Diversity (International Day for Biological Diversity)

In his speech, Ban Ki-moon pointed out that as the international community strives to accelerate the pace of achieving the Millennium Development Goals and formulating the post -2015 agenda, "water and biodiversity" has become an important part of the discussion. Water is a seemingly abundant resource, he said, but the Earth has only a tiny amount of readily available fresh water. Water for human use is increasingly insecure, often in short supply and often below minimum standards. From the current trend, the future demand for water can not be met.
Biodiversity and the multiple ecological services it provides are essential to realizing the vision of securing the world's water. Ecosystems affect the availability and quality of water at the local, regional and global levels. Forests help to control soil erosion and protect water quality and supply. Wetlands can reduce the risk of flooding. Soil biodiversity helps maintain water supply for crops. Incorporating nature-based solutions into urban planning can help us build a better future for urban water use at a time when the rapid pace of urbanization is making water particularly scarce.
Ban Ki-moon emphasized that once upon a time, people were concerned about the trade-off between water resource utilization and biodiversity. Now we have begun to realize that biodiversity and water security are complementary. This shift from conflict to synergy is particularly welcome in the context of the International Year of Water Cooperation. In that regard, he called on all States that had not yet done so to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, thereby helping us to work towards the future to which we aspire.
Biodiversity refers to all organisms in the biosphere on the earth, that is, animals, plants, microorganisms, and their genes and living environment. A variety of organisms can not only directly provide all kinds of resources for human beings, but also provide a variety of special genes for human beings, making it possible to cultivate new varieties of animals and plants. Over the past half-century, human activities have caused unprecedented damage to biodiversity. Life on Earth is disappearing at a rate 1000 times normal. In order to protect the earth's biodiversity, 153 countries signed the Convention on the Protection of Biological Diversity at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. In December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to designate December 29 of each year as" international Day for Biological Diversity". In May 2001, the 55th UN General Assembly adopted resolution 201, which will" international Day for Biological Diversity"Changed to May 22.

(Responsible editor: Shixin)