Biodiversity : a change in direction is necessary

Although no common goals regarding biodiversity preservation and restoration have so far been set, on the same scale as those developed for the combat against climate change, these are nonetheless key issues for the very survival of the human race, which depends on nature and the “ecosystem services” that it provides for us, including food, clean water and materials, regulating diseases and the climate, as well as access to key recreational and cultural spaces for our wellbeing.

• The issues at stake in terms of biodiversity and climate change are also intrinsically linked, with changes to the climate constituting one of the five major pressures weighing on biodiversity. Actions harming biodiversity, such as deforestation, are equally damaging for the climate and, inversely, schemes aiming to preserve and restore biodiversity have a favourable impact on combating climate change.
   
• Changing use of land and seas, soil overexploitation, climate change, pollution, proliferating invasive species: these pressures, which are of human origin, are increasing and threatening ecosystems. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity considers that the Earth is at the beginning of its sixth “mass extinction”, which is the first extinction attributable to humankind. What does this mean? One million species are already threatened with extinction, according to the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity & Ecosystem services, 2019.