During the June 2021 plenary session, Parliament adopted its position on the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Bringing nature back into our lives to ensure that by 2050 the world’s ecosystems are restored, resilient and adequately protected.

What percentage of biodiversity will be lost in 2050?

By 2050, without new policies… Globally, terrestrial biodiversity is projected to decrease by a further 10% by 2050, with significant losses in Asia, Europe and Southern Africa.

What is the result of decreasing biodiversity today?

Declining biodiversity lowers an ecosystem’s productivity (the amount of food energy that is converted into the biomass) and lowers the quality of the ecosystem’s services (which often include maintaining the soil, purifying water that runs through it, and supplying food and shade, etc.).

What is an example of biodiversity loss?

An example of biodiversity loss was the extinction of over 200 species of cichlids in Lake Victoria; this was caused by the introduction of the Nile Perch as well as increased agriculture and fishing. Unlike the five previous mass extinctions, the current one is a result of detrimental human activities.

Why does the loss of biodiversity matter?

Biodiversity loss disrupts the functioning of ecosystems, making them more vulnerable to perturbations and less able to supply humans with needed services.

How does declining biodiversity affect us?

Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives. Put simply, reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease, and where fresh water is in irregular or short supply. For humans that is worrying.

Is biodiversity currently increasing or decreasing or staying the same?

Biodiversity is declining rapidly due to land use change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation, and pollution. These result from demographic, economic, sociopolitical, cultural, technological, and other indirect drivers.

Why is declining biodiversity a problem?

Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives. Put simply, reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease, and where fresh water is in irregular or short supply.

Why biodiversity loss is an important global issue?

Biodiversity loss disrupts the functioning of ecosystems, making them more vulnerable to perturbations and less able to supply humans with needed services. To stop ecosystem degradation, the full contribution made by ecosystems to both poverty alleviation efforts and to national economies must be clearly demonstrated.

What do current trends in biodiversity loss indicate?

While these drivers vary in their importance among ecosystems and regions, current trends indicate a continuing loss of biodiversity. Across the range of biodiversity measures, current rates of change and loss exceed those of the historical past by several orders of magnitude and show no indication of slowing.

Is global biodiversity decreasing?

A consistent projected scenario of a decrease in global biodiversity is identified by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The mean species abundance (MSA) measures how much an ecosystem resembles its natural state. Having an MSA of 100% means that biodiversity resembles the natural state.

Did Latin America’s biodiversity drop 83 percent in just 40 years?

According to the World Wildlife Fund’s “Living Planet Report 2014,” biodiversity in Latin America dropped by 83 percent in just 40 years. ©Patrick J. Endres When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released its Living Planet Report 2014 on September 30, it wasn’t the usual doom-and-gloom environmental news story that is forgotten the next day.

How does biodiversity change through geological time?

Biodiversity Change through Geological Time The number of species on the planet, or in any geographical area, is the result of an equilibrium of two evolutionary processes that are ongoing: speciation and extinction. Both are natural “birth” and “death” processes of macroevolution.