I've been reminded of the importance of biodiversity. A correspondent from New Zealand recently, Colin Meurk of Land Care Research, mentioned a 2005 article by James Miller. Miller makes the point that
"Biodiversity loss is a matter of great concern among conservation scientists, but the wherewithal to reverse this trend is generally lacking. One reason is that nearly half of the world's people live in urban areas and are increasingly disconnected from nature."
Here in San Francisco, we have the coastline and several wonderful parks. And we have a Commission on the Environment that adopted a remarkable Sustainability Plan in 1997. It was a coalition of hundreds of individuals and organizations that put this plan together, exactly what we need now to get our UN Goals Advisory Committee approved by the SF Board of Supervisors. A big section of the plan addresses biodiversity - so if you wonder why we have wild coyotes and strict laws about putting up buildings near trees where birds are nesting, now you know. It is a very good thing for the city, not least because a lot of the people here have regular contact with nature.
UN SDG 15 covers biodiversity explicitly: "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss." The latest assessment of progress on SDG 15 is not all negative, but we are not on course to achieve the 2020 goals for SDG 15. "The most fundamental and irreversible human impact on nature is species extinction. The Red List Index – which measures the risk of extinction, in which a value of 1 indicates no threat to any species, and a value of 0 indicates that all species are extinct – has deteriorated from 0.82 in 1993 to 0.73 globally in 2019."
A hugely important problem for earth and humanity.
#protecttheland
