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 declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity in recognition of the international target to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss globally. WAZA was 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.

CBD and WAZA signing agreement David Ainsworth, CBD (left) and Gerald Dick, WAZA © Ivan Rehak

The 2010 International Year of Biodiversity won the Green Award as best global environmental campaign.

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