Dodo is not a mythical bird. It lived in the island state of Madagascar before becoming extinct many years ago. The bird disappeared not because of any natural disaster of massive proportion, terrestrial or extra- terrestrial, as the Dinosaurs did 65 million years ago. The cause of its disappearance was shrinkage of habitat caused by encroachments of human settlers and perhaps poaching. It is not the only species to meet that end. According to researchers, thousands of species have become extinct and the process continues unabated. Not only animals and birds have fallen victim to human rapacity in the past hundred years, many plants have also met the same fate and for the same reason. Dodo is now remembered by the legacy left by it in the idiomatic expression ' dead as Dodo', but other extinct species of flora and fauna do not have even that unenviable distinction. They are, at the most, remembered just by numbers, sometimes not even that, simply consigned to oblivion.
Bio-diversity is not only about animals and plants. It refers to the infinite variety of genes within species of flora and fauna and the variety of eco systems within which they exist. Variety of eco systems, such as rainforests, wetlands and mangrove forests, coral reefs and deserts determine the existence of various species of life forms of animals and plants. Biological diversity (bio-diversity) is the sine qua non for the resilience of eco systems and the life forms within it and their ability to prevent and recover from disaster and adverse conditions.
Bio diversity loss, a decrease in diversity within a species, a particular eco system, a given geographical area or the earth as a whole, can be traced to either natural or human- induced causes or to both. Natural causes refers to seasonal changes, natural disasters like storms, cyclones, floods, wild fires and earthquakes that affect eco systems adversely, leading to declines in numbers of different species of animals, birds, insects and plants. Where these natural disasters are common or familiar, eco systems adapt to changes, requiring varying time span for recovery. In contrast, human driven biodiversity loss is more severe and longer lasting. Human habitation in rural and urban areas, agriculture, industrialisation, communication networks of roads take up an increasing share of earth's land area. Even riversides and wetlands have been filled up for human habitation and industrialisation and road communications. The loss of biodiversity due to human encroachment into eco systems is irreversible as no scope is left for nature to adapt. The incremental loss of bio diversity due to climate change is also human- induced because most of these changes occur as a result of human conduct and their life style. Over exploitation of resources like trees in forests and fishes in oceans and pollution of land, water and air also lead to considerable bio- diversity loss by destroying eco systems or directly impacting species. According to a recent estimate by researchers of the International Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Eco systems Services, the current loss of species varies between 100 and 10,000 times the background extinction rate (which is roughly one to five species per year when the entire fossil record is considered). A 2019 report by this research body estimated that up to one million plant and animal species are facing extinction due to human activities.
Awareness about the importance of bio diversity for healthy and sustainable living of all species in different ecosystems and the threats it faces from natural and human- induced causes of human encroachments and environmental degradation has been around for quite some time. Rachel Carson's book 'The Silent Spring' (1961) was the first clarion call to the danger of environmental degradation from use of chemical pesticides that pollute land and water. In 1988, the British ecologist Norman Myers wrote a seminal book identifying 10 (ten) tropical forest 'hotspots' (an area of richness of species) that were characterised by exceptional levels of plant and animal endemism (rarity of species) and serious levels of habitat loss.
Following scientific findings and writings and advocacy by environmentalists, the United Nations proposed a convention on bio diversity in the Earth Summit held in Rio, Brazil in 1992. The UN Convention on Bio diversity (CBD) was signed by participating countries and it came into force the next year. It was recognised that biological diversity is a common concern of humankind and is an integral part of the development efforts undertaken by national governments. The Convention covers all eco systems, species and genetic resources. It links conventional conservation efforts to the economic goal of using biological resources sustainably and sets principles for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
A list of 20 bio diversity goals was unveiled at the Convention on Bio Diversity (CBD) meeting held in Nagoya, Japan in 2010. It was proposed at the meeting that the goals should be met by signatory countries by 2020.Since 2010, 164 countries have developed plans to reach these targets. The score card of progress on the prominent goals offers a bleak picture. On the goal of protecting ecosystem, only 10 per cent of the ecologically valuable regions on land was protected by 2020 and only 1 per cent of oceans was covered by protection. As regards recognition of indigenous rights over the land and water they use , the record is poor, graded with a 'D'. The goal of providing requisite funding for conservation has, similarly, languished due to lack of seriousness by member countries making the commitments. The goals of sharing gene windfall on the basis of Nagoya Protocol (2010) are yet to be reached as commitments have not been followed by actions even by the 92 signatory countries. On regulating genetically modified organism (GMO), the Cartagena Protocol signed by 103 countries to regulate the movement of GMO has come into effect since 2003 and is the only goal that has been fully reached.
In the backdrop of this near lacklustre performance on meeting the targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN summit on Biological Diversity is being held now in Montreal, Canada. Started on December 7 it will continue till December 19. The slogan and the theme chosen for the COP15 (Conference of parties), the acronym for the summit, is : Building a shared future for all human life. It is envisaged that the COP15 will succeed in adopting a ' bold global bio diversity framework to address the key drivers of biological diversity loss'.
COP15 in Montreal was preceded by a meeting of the signatory countries in Kunming, China in October, 2022 where the draft agenda (formulated in a meeting held in June in Nairobi, Kenya) was approved for the summit. In the Kenya meeting, the draft agenda contained a global plan 'to bend the curve on bio diversity loss'. The meeting used inputs from the proceedings of an earlier meeting of COP in Geneva (March, 2022) , and drafted the goals for the Summit (COP15) in Montreal, particularly for finalising a framework on halting bio diversity loss through conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing.
As is often said in respect of court cases,' the jury is out, and it is too early to say what will be the 'verdict', similarly one has to reserve comments on the outcome of the summit in Montreal. But the progress made so far, since 1993, when the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was established, gives cause for despair, to put it very mildly. Meeting after meeting have been held and voluminous reports have been produced over 28 years (since1993) without even an agreement over a framework of actions! It looks like the world community has been taken for a ride as the UN is set on a grand paper chase. If Dodo were a human being and was buried, he would be turning in his grave.
