We share our world with millions of different species. Put simply, biodiversity is the huge variety of animals and plants and the places where they live - from the bees that pollinate our crops to the mangroves that protect coastlines. We need a rich biodiversity for nature to provide us with essentials like food, drinking water, clean air, medicines and so much more. Without biodiversity and all the services that they give us, we cannot survive.
Unfortunately, like so many other aspects of our planet, we're losing wildlife at an unprecedented rate. A big part of this loss is the pressure we're placing on natural systems to feed a growing world. Urgent action is needed, and we're going to need everyone to be part of the solution.
How can you help?
Our food choices can make a positive difference to people and nature – improving our own health, the health of others, and the health of the planet. Globally, our diets are too narrow. Even though more than 5,000 crops have been used for food historically, we get more than 50 per cent of our plant-based calories from just three crops! Without diversity in what we eat, our food system is less resilient to diseases and pests. As a consumer, you can do your part by eating a wider variety of foods. |
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| | | Vital protection of crops and livestock needed to prevent food system collapse. By João Campari, Global Leader, Food, WWF International |
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| | | Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, and climate change and nature loss are pushing our planet to the brink. The risks are not only for biodiversity but also for our own food security. Although good environmental practices are increasing, intensive agriculture has led to declines in multiple ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestering, healthy water flows and natural habitats.
Not only have we failed to tackle harmful practices which degrade our land and seas, powering the decline of our wild and agrobiodiversity, but we have actively encouraged them .
Policymakers must subscribe to a New Deal for Nature and People and urgently develop a new global biodiversity framework for the decade 2021–2030 to stop nature loss, protecting agrobiodiversity and wild biodiversity. |
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| In 2020, world leaders will be making key decisions on the environment, climate and sustainable development; and we need to seize this opportunity to secure an international commitment to reverse nature loss – a New Deal for Nature and People. |
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WWF on the ground Damming the world’s remaining free-flowing rivers is not the answer to our low-carbon energy needs |
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Did you know that only 1/3 of our world’s longest rivers remain free-flowing? Dams are the leading cause of this loss of connectivity – modifying the natural flow of rivers and fragmenting their habitats.
Healthy rivers support freshwater fish stocks that improve food security for hundreds of millions of people, deliver sediment that keeps deltas above rising seas, mitigate the impact of extreme floods and droughts, prevent loss of infrastructure and fields to erosion, and support a wealth of biodiversity. Disrupting rivers’ connectivity often reduces or even loses these vital benefits.
With thousands of hydropower dams planned across the globe, we need to accelerate the introduction of other renewable energy sources to protect the world's remaining free-flowing rivers and the diverse benefits they provide to people and nature. |
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