This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and micro-organisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from 3 to 100 million.

We are changing life on Earth

While concern for the environment is constant in history, heightened concern about environmental destruction and loss of species and ecosystems in the 1970s led to concerted international action. In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm) led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In the following years, Governments, often under UNEP auspices, signed a number of regional and international agreements to tackle specific issues, such as protecting wetlands and migratory species and regulating the international trade in endangered species.

Twenty years later, in 1992, the largest-ever meeting of world leaders took place at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An historic set of agreements was signed at the "Earth Summit", including two binding agreements, the Convention on Climate Change, which targets industrial and other emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the first global agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Over 150 Governments signed the treaty at the Rio Conference, and since then more than 175 countries have ratified it.

Some of the many issues dealt with under the Convention include:

• Measures and incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
• Regulated access to genetic resources.
• Access to and transfer of technology, including biotechnology.
• Technical and scientific cooperation.
• Impact assessment.
• Education and public awareness.
• Provision of financial resources.
• National reporting on efforts to implement treaty commitments.

The Convention on Biological Diversity, as an international treaty, identifies a common problem, sets overall goals and policies and general obligations, and organizes technical and financial cooperation. However, the responsibility for achieving its goals rests largely with the countries themselves. At the national level, private companies, landowners, fishermen and farmers take most of the actions that affect biodiversity. Governments need to provide the critical role of leadership, particularly by setting rules that guide the use of natural resources, and by protecting biodiversity where they have direct control over the land and water.

Under the Convention, Governments are required to develop national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and to integrate these into broader national plans for environment and development. This is particularly important for such sectors as forestry, agriculture, fisheries, energy, transportation and urban planning.

Other treaty commitments include:

• Identifying and monitoring the important components of biodiversity that need to be conserved and used sustainably.
• Establishing protected areas to conserve biodiversity while promoting environmentally sound development around these areas.
• Rehabilitating and restoring degraded ecosystems and promoting the recovery of threatened species in collaboration with local residents.
• Respecting, preserving and maintaining traditional knowledge of the sustainable use of biological diversity with the involvement of indigenous peoples and local communities.
• Preventing the introduction of, controlling and eradicating alien species that could threaten ecosystems, habitats or species.
• Controlling the risks posed by organisms modified by biotechnology.
• Promoting public participation, and educating people and raising awareness about the importance of biological diversity and the need to conserve it.
• Reporting on how each country is meeting its biodiversity goals.

The conservation of each country’s biodiversity can be achieved in various ways. "In-situ" conservation – the primary means of conservation – focuses on conserving genes, species and ecosystems in their natural surroundings, for example by establishing protected areas, rehabilitating degraded ecosystems, and adopting legislation to protect threatened species. "Ex- situ" conservation uses zoos, botanical gardens and gene banks to conserve species. There are many examples of country-level initiatives to integrate the objectives of conservation and sustainable use:

• In 1994, Uganda adopted a programme under which protected wildlife areas shared part of their tourism revenues with local people -- an approach now being used in several African countries.
• Costa Rica’s 1996 Forestry Law includes provisions to compensate private landowners and forest managers who maintain or increase the area of forest within their properties.
• Through weekly "farmer field schools", some 2 million rice farmers in several Asian countries have enhanced their understanding of the tropical rice ecosystem – including the interactions between insect pests of rice, their natural enemies, fish farmed in the rice paddies, and the crop itself – in order to improve their crop management practices. As a result, they have increased their crop yields, while at the same time almost eliminating insecticide use.
• Clayoquot Sound on the western coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, encompasses forests and marine and coastal systems. The establishment of adaptive management to implement the ecosystem approach at the local level is currently under development with the involvement of indigenous communities, with a view to ensuring rational use of the forest and marine resources.
  

An important part of the biodiversity debate involves access to and sharing of the benefits arising out of the commercial and other use of genetic material, such as pharmaceutical products. The treaty recognizes a country’s sovereignty over its genetic resources, and provides that access to valuable biological resources be carried out on "mutually agreed terms" and subject to the "prior informed consent" of the country of origin. When a micro-organism, plant or animal is used for a commercial application, the country from which it came has the right to benefit through cash, samples of what is collected, the participation or training of national researchers, the transfer of biotechnology equipment and know-how, and shares of any profits. Work has begun to translate this concept into reality and there are already examples of benefit-sharing arrangements, such as:

Exporters must also provide detailed information to each importing country in advance of the first shipment of seeds, live fish and other LMOs that are to be intentionally introduced into the environment, and the importer must then authorize the shipment. The aim is to ensure that recipient countries have both the opportunity and the capacity to assess any risks involving the products of modern biotechnology. The Protocol will enter into force after it has been ratified by 50 Governments.

During the past three decades we have become increasingly aware that the natural ecosystems on which human life depends are under threat. But we still lack detailed knowledge of the extent of the damage – or its causes. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his Millennium Report, has underscored the need to develop a truly comprehensive global evaluation of the condition of the five major ecosystems: forests, freshwater systems, grasslands, coastal areas and agroecosystems.

This proposed the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment seeks to produce just such an evaluation.

An initiative of the World Resources Institute, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme, among others, will draw on and collate existing sources of data and promote new research to fill the missing knowledge gaps.

The Secretary-General has called on the Member States to help provide the necessary financial support for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and to become actively engaged in it. Both developed and developing country Governments will benefit from the research work. The private sector will also benefit by being able to make more informed forecasts. And it will provide civil society with the information they need to hold corporations and Governments accountable for meeting their environmental obligations.

While Governments should play a leadership role, other parts of society need to be actively involved. After all, it is the choices and actions of billions of individuals that will determine whether or not biodiversity is conserved and used sustainably.

In an era when economics is a dominant force in world affairs, it is more important than ever to have business willingly involved in environmental protection and the sustainable use of nature. Fortunately, a growing number of companies have found ways to make a profit while reducing their environmental impacts, thus increasing goodwill from their business partners, employees and consumers.

Local communities play a key role since they are the true "managers" of the ecosystems in which they live. Many projects have been successfully developed in recent years involving the participation of local and indigenous communities in the sustainable management of biodiversity.

Finally, the ultimate decision-maker for biodiversity is the individual citizen. The small choices that individuals make add up to a large impact because it is personal consumption that drives development, which in turn uses and pollutes nature. By carefully choosing the products they buy and the government policies that they support, the general public can begin to steer the world towards sustainable development. Governments, companies and others have a responsibility to lead and inform the public, but, finally, it is individual choices, made billions of times a day, that count the most.