Biodiversity
Variety and variability of life forms
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| 2025 | Some countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, and India, indicated they would not publish their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) before this year. |
| February 28 2025 | Participating countries reached an agreement on a roadmap to provide US$200 billion annually for conservation targets by 2030, with initial commitment to raise US$20 billion in annual conservation financing by 2025. |
| February 27 2025 | Participating nations agree on a roadmap to provide US$200 billion annually to developing countries for conservation targets by 2030. |
| February 25 2025 | An extended session of COP16 is held in Rome, Italy, to address unresolved negotiations from the previous conference. |
| February 9 2025 | Susana Muhamad resigned from her role as Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, though she continued to participate in the conference as its president. |
| 2024 |
Woody plant encroachment
UNCCD highlighted the 'silent demise' of vast rangelands, emphasizing how woody plant encroachment threatens climate stability, food security, and the wellbeing of billions of people globally.
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| 2024 | 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) on biodiversity held in Cali, Colombia. |
| November 2 2024 | The 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference closed without a complete agreement on funding for species protection, with negotiations running nearly twelve hours longer than planned and delegates leaving before a quorum could be established. |
| September 2024 | Global Witness released an annual report documenting the violence against environmental activists, revealing 196 environmentalists were murdered worldwide in 2023. Colombia had the highest number of killings at 79, followed by Brazil with 25, and Mexico and Honduras with 18 each. |
| July 30 2024 | EMC leader Néstor Gregorio (Iván Mordisco) announced that EMC units would not interfere with COP16 events 'as a gesture of [their] will for peace'. |
| July 16 2024 | EMC representatives threatened on X (formerly Twitter) that COP16 would 'fail even if [Cali] was militarized with (US) gringos', directed at President Gustavo Petro. |
| March 2024 | Ceasefire between Colombian government and Estado Mayor Central (EMC) guerrilla faction was terminated due to ongoing violence in several departments. |
| February 28 2024 | The official logo for COP16 was presented by Colombian Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development Susana Muhamad and UNCBD interim executive secretary David Cooper during the Sixth UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya. The logo, designed by Vanessa María Vergara Domínguez, featured an Inírida flower with 36 petals symbolizing biodiversity framework targets and Colombian ecoregions. |
| 2023 |
Biodiversity loss
Scientific analysis in Science Advances concluded that at least 30% of land must be actively protected and ecologically restored by 2030 to meet global biodiversity goals.
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| 2023 |
Nature-based solutions
Debele et al conducted a comprehensive review of global NBS case studies, revealing that the majority of documented examples were located in Europe.
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| 2023 | UN Intergovernmental conference held on the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ) to create a legally binding instrument for conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdictions. |
| 2023 | Of 70,000 monitored species, approximately 48% are experiencing population declines from human activity, while only 3% have increasing populations. |
| December 11 2023 | Colombian Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, officially announced Colombia's offer to host the COP16, scheduled for 21 October to 1 November 2024. |
| July 31 2023 | The UNCBD conference organizing committee was notified that Turkey would no longer host COP16, withdrawing its right to host and preside over the event due to nationwide earthquake impacts from February. |
| 2022 |
Biodiversity loss
Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission, publicly noted that public awareness about biodiversity loss is lower compared to awareness of climate change.
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| 2022 |
Biodiversity loss
A comprehensive study surveying over 3,000 experts concluded that global biodiversity loss may be more severe than previously thought, estimating that roughly 30% of species have been globally threatened or driven extinct since 1500.
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| 2022 |
Biodiversity loss
Global Land Outlook report by UN Convention to Combat Desertification revealed over 50% of agricultural land is moderately or severely degraded.
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| 2022 |
Biodiversity loss
World Wildlife Fund reported a significant global wildlife population decline of 68% between 1970 and 2016, based on data from 4,400 animal species and nearly 21,000 monitored populations, demonstrating the severe impact of biodiversity loss worldwide.
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| 2022 |
Biodiversity loss
Scientific study warned that conservation efforts will continue to fail if primary drivers of biodiversity loss, including population size and growth, are ignored.
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| 2022 |
Biodiversity loss
Scientists issued a warning that one-third of tree species worldwide are threatened with extinction, which would significantly disrupt global ecosystems by impacting carbon, water, and nutrient cycles.
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| 2022 | TiME purchases 65 hectares of rainforest in the Chocó Forest, Ecuador, partnering with Fundación Jocotoco to protect the Critically Endangered great green macaw and the Endangered brown-headed spider monkey. |
| 2022 |
Holistic management
A review of 22 farm-scale studies found that Holistic Management had no effect on or reduced plant and animal productivity, though it showed improved social cohesion and peer-to-peer learning.
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| 2022 |
Woody plant encroachment
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Sixth Assessment Report, discussing woody encroachment's potential slight increases in carbon and potential masking of land degradation processes in drylands.
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| 2022 | 9,251 species were considered critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List. |
| December 2022 | Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was approved, setting 23 general targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. |
| December 19 2022 | United Nations Biodiversity Conference resulted in a global agreement signed by nearly all countries, committing to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030 and introducing 22 targets to reduce biodiversity loss. |
| 2021 |
Biodiversity loss
A collaborative report by IPBES and IPCC scientists was published, highlighting the interconnected nature of biodiversity loss and climate change, and emphasizing the need to address these challenges simultaneously.
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| 2021 |
Biodiversity loss
IUCN Red List assessment revealed that 28 percent of 134,400 species are threatened with extinction, totaling 37,400 species compared to 16,119 threatened species in 2006.
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| 2021 | TiME purchases 20 acres in the Maasai Mara ecosystem, Kenya, creating a migratory corridor and habitat for the Critically Endangered Black Rhinoceros and the Endangered Masai giraffe. |
| 2021 | Dhriti Banerjee became the first woman director of the Zoological Survey of India since its inception. |
| 2021 |
Holistic management
A peer-reviewed paper found that sparsely grazed and natural grasslands account for 80% of the world's grassland carbon sink, challenging Holistic Management claims.
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| 2021 |
Land use, land-use change, and forestry
Global Carbon Project published estimated annual land-use change emissions for the 2011-2020 period, highlighting the significant contribution of land-use changes to atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
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| 2021 |
Land use, land-use change, and forestry
A comprehensive study estimated land-use change impacts, revealing that 17% of land was affected between 1960-2019, with multiple change events affecting up to 32% of land. The study also identified global trade's significant role in agricultural land-use transformations.
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| 2021 |
Woody plant encroachment
Dirac Twidwell and Dillon T. Fogarty published a guide focusing on reducing risk and vulnerability to woody encroachment in rangelands, providing strategic insights for land management.
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| 2020 |
Biodiversity loss
CBD report revealed that only six of the 20 biodiversity goals were partially achieved, highlighting continued biodiversity decline and noting extinctions in Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, and the Galapagos Islands.
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| 2020 |
Biodiversity loss
A United Nations Environment Programme report revealed that out of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets set in 2010, only six were partially achieved, highlighting the ongoing challenges in combating biodiversity loss.
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| 2020 |
Biodiversity loss
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report classified 34% of world's marine fishery stocks as overfished, with global fish populations having declined 38% since 1970.
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| 2020 |
Biodiversity loss
Sixteen freshwater fish species were declared extinct, marking a significant milestone in biodiversity loss for megafish populations.
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| 2020 | TiME raises nearly US$200,000 to purchase two significant land plots: 300 acres in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodland to protect the Endangered Clarke's weaver, and 84 acres in Brazil's Atlantic Forest to expand the Serra Bonita Reserve, protecting the Critically Endangered buff-headed capuchin and banded cotinga. |
| 2020 |
Nature-based solutions
European Commission updates its definition of nature-based solutions to emphasize biodiversity benefits and ecosystem service delivery
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| 2020 | Established as the baseline year for measuring biodiversity loss as part of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), with the goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss. |
| 2020 | World Wildlife Foundation report states that 68% of examined species populations were destroyed between 1970 and 2016. |
| October 2020 |
Biodiversity loss
Swiss Re analysis revealed that one-fifth of all countries are at risk of ecosystem collapse due to human-caused habitat destruction and wildlife loss, highlighting the critical state of global biodiversity.
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| September 4 2020 | A study published in Science Advances mapped out regions that can help meet critical conservation and climate goals for biodiversity protection. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Biodiversity, Biodiversity loss, Woody plant encroachment, Zoological Survey of India, Nature-based solutions, 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, This Is My Earth, Holistic management (agriculture) & Land use, land-use change, and forestry, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.