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| Young Timorese fisherman wearing his wooden goggles to catch fish along the shores of Atauro island off Dili. UN Photo/Martine Perret |
22 May 2014 – Tiny though some may be, islands play a huge role in
sustaining life on the planet – making up less than 5 per cent of
Earth’s landmass, they are home to 20 per cent of all bird, reptile and
plant species – and protecting their fragile ecosystems from
ill-considered development, polluted waters and invasive species is the
main focus of this year’s International Day for Biodiversity.
While islands and their surrounding near-shore marine areas face
immense challenges, especially those triggered by a rapidly warming
planet, the head of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
is convinced there are “bright spots;” that the innovation, experience
and knowledge of islands and the communities that thrive among them can
contribute significantly to the conservation and sustainable use of
Earth’s biodiversity and natural resources.
“That’s the big agenda this year,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza
Dias, the Convention’s Executive Secretary, in an interview with the UN
News Centre. On the International Day
and throughout 2014, the CBD Secretariat will aim to boost overall
support for islands party to the Convention and States parties that have
island territories to make better use of existing solutions, enhance
partnerships and mobilize more global attention to the threats islands
face.
Along these lines, the UN will be convening the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States
from 1 to 4 September in Apia, Samoa, to focus worldwide attention on
the sustainable development of this unique group of countries.
“We plan to keep up the momentum generated by the [spotlight cast on] islands and oceans at the 2012 Rio+20
conference,” said Mr. Dias, referring to the culmination of a series of
landmark UN meetings on sustainable development. Rio+20 was preceded in
2002 by the Johannesburg World Summit, which itself was preceded by the
historic 1992 Earth Summit, where nations agreed on what have become
known as the “Rio conventions:” the UN Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC); the Convention on Desertification; and the CBD itself.
Noting the inextricable link between the fate of island biodiversity
and islands themselves, under pressure as they are from many of the same
threats, he said: “Islands are isolated and they have precious
biodiversity that is unique to them; if we lose this biodiversity…it its
gone forever,” he said, explaining why it is so vitally important to
keep the issue at the top of the development agenda.
“[They] are fragile ecosystems, facing threats from desertification,
as well as unsustainable fishing, forestry and agriculture.
Increasingly, with the onset of climate change, they are also being
threatened by sea-level rise and ocean acidification,” he added.
Major drivers of biodiversity loss are invasive alien species – both
animals and plants ¬– that colonize an island, out-compete the native
fauna and flora and destroy them. For a species to become invasive it
must “arrive, survive and thrive,” according to the CBD.
And while it may be hard to imagine, surrounded as they are by water,
islands are often negatively impacted by desertification. “Some are in
regions with less rainfall. Some have poor irrigation [systems] or
manage ecosystems unsustainably. But generally, it’s driven by climate
change: it’s getting hotter and drier in many island regions,” Mr. Dias
said.
This led him to make a passionate plea for stepping up protection for
the world’s coral reefs: “[They] are like the ‘rainforests of the
oceans.’ Coral reefs are the richest ecosystems in the oceans, and
islands are where they are concentrated.”
Unfortunately, coral reefs are under serious threat –“perhaps the
most threatened ecosystems on Earth” – from overfishing, pollution and
of course, climate change. “As the water gets warmer, sea levels rise,
and as we put more CO2 into the atmosphere, the water filters that,” he
said, underscoring that reefs can be seriously damaged if their food
sources are disrupted or the waters around them become too acidic. “It’s
a huge challenge,” he lamented.
Against this backdrop, the CBD will be working with all countries to promote the aims of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020,
including Aichi Biodiversity Targets, adopted in Nagoya, Japan and
bolstered by the General Assembly’s decision in 2010 to declare the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity.
“We will be making a big push for partnerships and capacity-building
so that all countries can enhance their implementation of the strategy”
said Mr. Dias, explaining that the Strategy’s 20 targets
are grouped in five goals: reducing underlying causes of biodiversity
loss by tackling socio-economic drivers such as unsustainable production
and consumption; addressing “direct drivers” such as deforestation,
pollution, and unsustainable fisheries; boosting conservation efforts;
enhancing benefits to society; and enhancing instruments to help
implement the agenda.
As part of efforts on the International Day, the CBD along with the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) are launching the Island Bright Spots in Conservation and Sustainability
report, which affirms that even though islands are more at risk than
ever before, leaders of island countries and countries with islands have
made visionary commitments at local, national, regional and global
levels.
“The whole idea is to bring together and disseminate solutions to
help islands deal with threats. That’s the ‘bright spot.’ We don’t only
want to [highlight] the challenges, we want to show that there are some
good solutions,” he said, echoing the report’s focus on inspiring
projects to create or expand land and marine protected areas; tackle
invasive species; and address the impacts of climate change.
The report highlights, among other examples, the 2005 Micronesia
Challenge –¬ calling on the region to conserve 30 per cent of coastal
waters and 20 per cent of land by 2020 ¬– which demonstrates how
inspired political momentum leads to diverse initiatives on the ground.
The similar Caribbean Challenge Initiative, launched 2008, provides a
model for leveraging large-scale public and private sector commitment
towards common goals.
“We need to disseminate these lessons learned and encourage countries
and civil society organizations to make better use of them,” said Mr.
Dias. “We hope all countries will be able to make good use of this
information and develop initiatives to highlight the relevance of
biodiversity for their sustainable development.”
Source: http://www.un.org/
apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47861#.U4TdNbEdrIU
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