Biodiversity
Variety and variability of life forms
Follow Biodiversity on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
We include updates on Endemism, Rainforest, Endangered species, Megadiverse countries, Convention on Biological Diversity, Keystone species, Diversity index, List of plants used in herbalism, Majuli, Heirloom tomato, Bioprospecting, Mascarene Islands, Tropical forest, Genetic diversity, Sky island, Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety ... and more.
| 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.
|
| 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 |
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.
|
| 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 |
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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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 | 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| 2020 |
Nature-based solutions
European Commission updates its definition of nature-based solutions to emphasize biodiversity benefits and ecosystem service delivery
|
| 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. |
| September 4 2020 | A study published in Science Advances mapped out regions that can help meet critical conservation and climate goals for biodiversity protection. |
| May 2020 | European Union published its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, outlining comprehensive targets for biodiversity protection and restoration. |
| 2019 |
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
The United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas, which reaffirmed the farmers' rights contained in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
|
| 2019 |
Nature-based solutions
A 'Nature-Based Solution Coalition' was created during the UN Climate Action Summit, with dozens of countries participating, led by China and New Zealand.
|
| 2019 |
Nature-based solutions
The UN Climate Action Summit highlighted nature-based solutions as an effective method to combat climate change, elevating the global recognition of NBS strategies.
|
| 2019 |
Forest Landscape Integrity Index
Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) ranking was published, comprehensively assessing forest condition across 172 countries. The index evaluated forest integrity by categorizing forest areas into low, medium, and high integrity zones.
|
| 2019 |
Woody plant encroachment
South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs initiated work towards a policy addressing indigenous bush encroachment, recognizing the ecological challenges posed by woody plant spread.
|
| 2019 | The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The report highlighted that the state of nature has deteriorated at an unprecedented and accelerating rate, calling for transformative changes including sustainable agriculture, reduced consumption and waste, fishing quotas, and collaborative water management. |
| 2019 | The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provided a new definition of biodiversity, describing it as 'the variability that exists among living organisms (both within and between species) and the ecosystems of which they are part'. |
| February 2019 |
Future 50 Foods report
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Knorr published the Future 50 Foods report, identifying 50 plant-based foods that can improve nutrition and reduce environmental impact of global food systems.
|
| 2018 |
Tropical forest
By the end of the study period, old-growth forest in Borneo had been reduced to 50%, primarily due to fires and agricultural expansion.
|
| 2018 |
Tropical forest
More than 3.6 million hectares of virgin tropical forest was lost globally, highlighting significant deforestation challenges in tropical regions.
|
| September 2018 |
Nature-based solutions
The term nature-based solutions begins to appear in mainstream media during the Global Climate Action Summit in California
|
| March 2018 |
Nature-based solutions
UN launched World Water Day with the theme 'Nature for Water', promoting nature-based solutions for addressing water challenges and highlighting the role of natural systems in water management.
|
| 2017 |
Nature-based solutions
Estonia, during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union, organized the conference 'Nature-based Solutions: From Innovation to Common-use' in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and the University of Tallinn. The conference aimed to strengthen synergies among initiatives and programs related to Nature-based Solutions, focusing on policy, governance, research, and innovation.
|
| 2017 |
Holistic management
A study by the Food and Climate Research Network concluded that Savory's carbon sequestration claims were 'unrealistic' and inconsistent with peer-reviewed research.
|
| 2017 | A PLOS One study found that the biomass of insect life in Germany had declined by three-quarters in the last 25 years. |
| 2016 |
Nature-based solutions
The European Union launched the ThinkNature multi-stakeholder dialogue platform to promote co-design, testing, and deployment of innovative Nature-based Solutions (NBS). The project was part of the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme and ran for 3 years.
|
|
We are only showing the most recent entries for this topic. |
|
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Tropical forest, Biodiversity, Woody plant encroachment, Zoological Survey of India, Nature-based solutions, Future 50 Foods report, 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Holistic management (agriculture), Land use, land-use change, and forestry & Forest Landscape Integrity Index, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.