<\/p>\n
The head of the UN Biodiversity Convention has warned that the world is spending far more money destroying nature than protecting it, leaving African countries without enough resources to respond to the biodiversity crisis.<\/p>\n
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Speaking at the seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation in Nairobi, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity Astrid Schomaker said biodiversity loss is not an abstract concern for millions of people in Africa and the developing world.<\/p>\n
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For many communities, the crisis is visible in soil that no longer produces enough food and fish stocks that no longer return to coastal waters.<\/p>\n
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Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth, including plants, animals and ecosystems that support food, medicine, clean water and resilience to climate change. \u201cThanks to biodiversity, we have food. Biodiversity gives us clean water. It helps us fight climate change. It makes us more resilient,\u201d Schomaker said.<\/p>\n
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Africa is home to 25% of the world\u2019s biodiversity, but the continent has lost about 24% of species since the pre-industrial period.<\/p>\n
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Schomaker said Africa is especially vulnerable because many people rely on natural resources for income, food and water.<\/p>\n
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Climate change remains the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss, while rising temperatures, invasive species, pollution and overexploitation of land and water are worsening the crisis.<\/p>\n
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The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that global spending that damages nature remains 30 times higher than spending to protect it.<\/p>\n
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Schomaker said this imbalance is undermining efforts to defend ecosystems that communities depend on.<\/p>\n
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Negotiators meeting in Nairobi are now focusing on how to move from scientific evidence to implementation. Discussions are centred on how countries can embed biodiversity into national decision-making, involve financial institutions and close the funding gap. \u201cWe have a very solid understanding of where we are,\u201d Schomaker said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd now it is taking this understanding of where we are and translating it into recommendations on how we can move forward faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Despite the scale of the challenge, Schomaker said there are reasons for cautious optimism.<\/p>\n
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Reports submitted to UNEP by 125 countries show strong global engagement on addressing biodiversity loss.<\/p>\n
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The Nairobi discussions will help shape negotiations at COP17, which begins in Yerevan, Armenia, on October 19. Countries will review progress under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at COP15 to reverse biodiversity loss and help people live in greater harmony with nature. \u201cThat is our biggest challenge: How can we turn this around?\u201d Schomaker said.<\/p>\n
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Schomaker said governments and communities must understand that damaging biodiversity means undermining the very systems that sustain human life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41624,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-41623","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The United Nations (UN) says biodiversity loss is threatening food, water and livelihoods across Africa, where many communities depend directly on nature for survival.","published_date":"","news_description":"The United Nations (UN) says biodiversity loss is threatening food, water and livelihoods across Africa, where many communities depend directly on nature for survival.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41625,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41623\/revisions\/41625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}