A decade ago the UN’s Millennium Development Goals set a framework to spur on the improvement of social and economic conditions in the poorest countries of the world.
The goals are framed broadly and, goal 7 enshrines the need to ensure environmental sustainability. This includes the goal of reducing the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010 – remember these goals are shaped by the needs of the poorest countries on earth – at the other end of the scale the richest nations, including the EU and UK upped that goal to one of halting the loss by 2010.
On both the ‘reduce’ and ‘halt’ targets the conclusions are pretty grim as both haven’t been met. You can read here about how work pioneered by BirdLife International is being used as key indicators in assessing progress (or lack of it). I’ve written before about BirdLife’s Important Bird Area (IBA) programme and its inclusion in the 2010 report on the Millennium Development Goals is an important recognition of the significance of an objective and science-led approach to identifying the best places for bird conservation.
The inclusion of environmental sustainability within the 8 Millennium Development Goals is fundamental both in terms of building awareness that more needs to be done to deliver the goal and reinforcing the point that the health of all life on earth is inextricably linked to our own futures.
As we face the most savage spending cuts most of us have ever seen – it’s a timely message relevant here in the UK. Identifying the correct levels of investment in sustaining our natural environment is going to shape our countryside for the next generation. Our life support system – our natural world is not an optional extra.
Nature needs a voice and we are speaking up for it – already some 224,772 people have signed the RSPB's Letter to the Future now’s the time to add your name.