What is being done about biodiversity loss?
United Kingdom
NERC and English Nature set up UKPopNet in April 2004. UKPopNet's work focuses on two questions:
- how will biodiversity change affect the sustainability of ecosystems, landscapes, and livelihoods?
- how can we mitigate those effects?
In addition to increased knowledge there is also a need to take action to protect biodiversity. The UK government set up the Biodiversity Action Plan in response to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The action plan describes the UK's biological resources and details a plan for the protection of these resources. Within the action plan there are 391 species action plans, 45 habitat action plans and 162 local biodiversity action plans with targeted actions.
This twenty-year conservation plan has three main goals:
- conserving biological diversity
- using its components sustainably
- sharing benefits from using genetic resources fairly
NERC has invaluable long-term sets of biodiversity data.
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
NERC has the most comprehensive records for bird, plant and butterfly populations on the planet. A recent analysis of the data showed an alarming drop in the number of bird, plant and butterfly species in the UK over the last 40 years.
Between 1983 and 2003, there was a 71% and 54% decline in butterfly and native bird species respectively. Between 1963 and 2003 native plant species dropped 28%.
Insects are often believed to be more resilient to change than birds or plants, but this survey suggests at least one group of insects - butterflies - have suffered more than either birds or plants.
Globally
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports that 15 of the 24 ecosystems essential for life on Earth have been seriously degraded or used unsustainably over the last 50 years.
Governments and conservation organisations are attempting to safeguard ecosystems containing rare species or high biodiversity. Around 11% of the planet's land surface is protected - this ranges from complete exclusion of people, to regulations on what we are allowed to do in certain areas.
DIVERSITAS
DIVERSITAS is a major new international biodiversity programme to establish international networks of ecological, economic, political and social scientists working on biodiversity.
NERC-funded scientists at the University of York are hosting the International Project Office to coordinate one of three DIVERSITAS projects, bioSUSTAINABILITY, which is looking at the primary drivers behind biodiversity change to develop policies to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics
Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics started in 1991, with the aim of understanding how global change will affect the abundance, diversity and productivity of marine populations comprising a major component of oceanic ecosystems. NERC's collaborative centre, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, hosts the project office.
Global Population Dynamics Database
By far the world's largest collection of plant and animal datasets.
Sabah Biodiversity Project
The Sabah Biodiversity Experiment, in Malaysia, is examining how the diversity of replanted tropical forest affects timber production, carbon storage and other ecosystem processes.
