UNEP-WCMC releases electronic report on the connections between biodiversity and poverty reduction in support of discussions at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm on the sustainable use of natural resources, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.
The report reviews current scientific knowledge regarding the links between biodiversity and the sustainable provision of ecosystem services, and considers the implications of these links for development policy. It does not set out to assess the economic value of biodiversity, the understanding of which will be fully reviewed through the recently-announced Potsdam Initiative, in a similar manner to that of the recent Stern report on the economics of climate change. However, this report makes a key contribution to our understanding of the reliance of people on biodiversity around the world.
Building on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the report considers biodiversity in the broadest sense, to include variety at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels, and interactions between components of biodiversity, and therefore moves beyond a consideration of species diversity alone. The links between biodiversity and ecosystem services presented in this report underpin the relationship between the environment and development, and as such contribute towards an understanding of the most effective national, bilateral, and international efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and an improved understanding of the true values of biodiversity.
The full report will be published in October this year, as a contribution to the 2007 Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity, the theme for which is Ecosystems and People - biodiversity and development - the road to 2010 and beyond.
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