Webcast: The UN Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020

Today Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and Monique Barbut, CEO and Chair of the Global Environment Facility, will be answering your questions live from New York

Show time: 5pm

*Correction: Time of webcast is not at 4pm as previously stated, but is 5pm.

Biodiversity is of vital importance to us all. It is the basis for a wide range of ecosystem services on which we depend for food security, human health, clean air and water. Biodiversity contributes to local livelihoods and economic development and is essential in the fight against poverty. But the planet’s biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate.

Forests, coral reefs and rivers are declining in many parts of the world and species are moving closer to extinction. The earliest and most severe impacts of biodiversity loss are felt by the poor, but ultimately all societies and communities will suffer.

In May 2010 the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) urged for concerted and effective action to avoid reaching irreversible global ecological tipping points. Five months later the CBD adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 to inspire and drive change by every country.

In support of this Plan, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 - 2020 as the UN Decade on Biodiversity (UNDB). Through the Decade, the entire UN system will work to support implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its 20 ambitious yet achievable targets, collectively known as the Aichi Targets.

The UNDB will encourage every government, business and individual to take biodiversity into account in all their planning and actions.

In a live and interactive web TV programme from New York, two of the key figures driving the response to the planet’s loss of biodiversity will be answering your questions about the UNDB.

Ahmed Djoghlaf is Executive Secretary of the CBD and Monique Barbut is CEO and Chair of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), whose funding will be vital as it will assist developing countries to implement the CBD’s Strategic Plan.

They will discuss the CBD’s bold plans and the importance of taking action now to avert even more serious loss of biodiversity; how the entire UN system is driving to make the UNBD a lasting success, and the role of the GEF.