Scientists call for higher biodiversity goals

The world needs to change its strategy for stopping biodiversity loss, a group of scientists from around the world writes in a recent paper published in Science. The 40 scientists who authored the paper say that when planning for biodiversity for the next generation, goals need to aim higher in order to stop biodiversity loss and other worsening trends, like climate warming. They stress the need for a set of actions for new biodiversity goals that are clear, sufficiently ambitious and based on the best knowledge available.

“Building a sufficiently ambitious ‘safety net’ for nature will be a major global challenge,” said Sandra Díaz, the article’s lead author and a senior researcher at Argentina’s national research council, CONICET. “But unless we do it, we are leaving huge problems for every future generation.”

The research came after the intergovernmental Convention on Biological Diversity announced that none of its biodiversity targets set in 2010 will be achieved by this year’s deadline.

To come up with their recommendations, the researchers looked at different proposals by different nation’s delegates who are working on the Convention on Biological Diversity’s goals for 2050.

Read the study in Science.