3 March 2020

Introduction

Global Coalition for Biodiversity was launched during the celebrations of the World Wildlife Day 2020 on 3^rd March 2020.

Salient Features of the Coalition:

• It has been launched by European Commission.
• European Commission encourages national, regional, and local authorities, non-governmental organisations, business, scientists and individual citizens to play their part in raising awareness ahead of the UN Biodiversity summit.
• It is in context with the ‘Super Year for Nature-2020’.
• The coalition has adopted a common pledge, on the basis of IPBES Global Assessment .
• According to this assessment 1 million species are already at risk of extinction.
• Coalition appeals to visitors to each of their institutions to “raise their voice for nature.”
• Coalition has been named as ‘United for Biodiversity’
• It consists of zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, national parks, and natural history and science museums from around the world.
• The coalition offers the opportunity for all such institutions to “join forces and boost public awareness about the nature crisis, ahead of the crucial COP-15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in October 2020,”when nations will adopt a new global framework to protect and restore nature.
• These organisations are vital not only for cataloguing and preserving the natural world, but are indispensable and invaluable centres for education and mobilisation – particularly for young leaders and decision-makers of the future.

Relevance of Coalition for Biodiversity today:

• There has never been a point in human history where the state of nature has been so degraded, and the decisions we make about nature today have never been as critical
• Creating a sustainable future means facing the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.
•  We urgently need to take global action to protect and restore biodiversity. Otherwise much of the nature we love, and depend on for our food, health, and economy, will be in danger of disappearing forever.

About IPBES:

• IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body, established by member States in 2012.
• It provides policymakers with objective scientific assessments about the state of knowledge regarding the planet’s
  biodiversity, ecosystems and the benefits they provide to people, as well as the tools and methods to
  protect and sustainably use these vital natural assets.
• To some extent IPBES does for biodiversity what
  the IPCC does for climate change.