2010 Year of Biodiversity

Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital services our lives depend on.

 

 

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity in recognition of the international target to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss globally. WAZA has been a supporter of the Countdown 2010 initiative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in support of reaching this goal since 2005.  Additionally, WAZA entered an agreement of cooperation with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in support of the International Year of Biodiversity. WAZA and its members serve as biodiversity ambassadors and focus on conservation as well as on related education and awareness work.


2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. Let us reflect on our achievements to safeguard biodiversity and focus on the urgency of our challenge for the future. Now is the time to act!

 

 

CBD and WAZA signing agreement

David Ainsworth, CBD (left) and Gerald Dick, WAZA

© Ivan Rehak

The main goals of the year are to:

  • Enhance public awareness on the importance of conserving biodiversity and on the underlying threats to biodiversity.
  • Raise awareness of the accomplishments to save biodiversity by communities and governments and to promote innovative solutions to reduce these threats.
  • Call on individuals, organisations and governments to take immediate steps to halt biodiversity loss.
  • Initiate dialogue among stakeholders on necessary steps for the post-2010 period.

 

Downloads

Documents and presentations for the International Year of Biodiversity:

 

Always wanted to know where to find definitions, educational material, policy statements and statistics? The WAZA/IZE Education Manual is a guide for zoo and aquarium educators, teachers and environmentalists and a resource about biodiversity in support of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WAZA wishes to acknowledge the support of the MAVA Foundation for "WAZA's  worldwide initiative to drive biodiversity – 2010 and beyond".