NATIONS around the world are failing miserably to meet internationally agreed targets to halt the loss of biodiversity.
By now, individual countries should have drafted detailed plans to meet the global Aichi biodiversity targets, set by the UN's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. However, only half have done so, says a report by five major conservation charities ahead of this week's meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cancun, Mexico.
Worse still, 90 per cent of the plans fall short of 20 global benchmarks on issues such as halting habitat loss and saving endangered species. Only 5 per cent of countries are on track to meet the benchmarks. A fifth of countries have either made no progress since 2010, or have seen things get even worse. "Unless countries significantly increase their ambition, the Aichi targets will not be delivered," the report says, citing especially the rich nations.
"For the Aichi targets to be met, all countries must play their part," says Sarah Nelson, head of international policy at the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, one of the five charities that co-drafted the report. "The results from this study are therefore extremely concerning." One of the rare examples of success has been saving the Seychelles warbler (pictured above) from extinction.