Back in 2002, the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity set a target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.
It is now 2010, the declared UN Year of Biodiversity, and although some endangered species have been saved, notably within the EU, in general species of flora and fauna are being pushed into extinction at a faster rate.
There was really little hope of halting species loss in such a short time, even though the idea had its genesis as far back as 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio, though it didn’t get legs until the turn of the millennium.
But whatever hope there was then is now fast receding as climate change becomes the newest and most formidable driver of declines and extinctions. (more…)