Message of Ahmed Djoghlaf,
Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, on the Occasion of the International
Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May 2006 “Protect
Biodiversity in Drylands”
The logo for this year’s International
Day for Biological Diversity includes a cactus
flower, symbolizing, as the writer and photographer
Randall Henderson said, “courage that triumph[s]
over appalling obstacles”. Too often, discussions
of drylands evoke images of barren sands and parched
earth, devoid of life. Instead, we need to note
Henderson’s words: “For those seeking beauty the
desert offers nature’s rarest artistry.”
Drylands are teeming with a
spectacular parade of unique and well adapted
biodiversity. From vast grassland habitats where
birds abound, to lush Mediterranean landscapes
dominated by endemic succulents, drylands are
the cradle of much of the richness of our planet.
The Cape Floral Kingdom in South Africa for example,
covers less that 0.5 per cent of the area of Africa,
but accounts for almost 20 per cent of the continent’s
flora.
The beauty of drylands diversity is also manifested
in its importance to the communities who live
in these regions. In drylands-dominated
Senegal, wild resources and non-timber forest
products provide 50 per cent of rural household
incomes. In general, the biodiversity of drylands
provides critical ecosystem services on which
humanity relies for food, shelter, and livelihoods.
In fact, drylands biodiversity helps maintain
44 per cent of the world’s cultivated land. The
biodiversity in these regions also supplies essential
products for our health. One third of the plant-based
drugs in the United States are derived from drylands
biodiversity.
The Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity recognized the value of
drylands when they
adopted the programme of work
on the biological diversity of dry and sub-humid
lands at their fifth meeting. Since then, we have
made some progress in protecting this unique biodiversity.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, there has
been a steady increase in the populations of grassland
and savannah herbivores within protected areas.
Unfortunately, outside the boundaries
of protected areas, these positive trends have
yet to be
achieved, and more than 2,300
known drylands species remain threatened or endangered.
While drylands species have developed a number
of unique adaptations to dry conditions, the impact
of climate change is emerging as an unprecedented
challenge to all life in drylands. For the more
than one billion people affected by drought and
desertification, adaptation to climate change
will be a matter of survival. The speedy implementation
of the mutually supportive programmes of work
of the Rio conventions—the Convention on Biological
Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification,
and the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change, is the solution to addressing
the root causes of desertification and alleviating
the escalating risks of famine and disease resulting
from the failure of dryland ecosystems.
The implementation of the three objectives of
the Convention on Biological Diversity is of critical
importance to the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goal of halving the rate of poverty
in the world by 2015. In 2005, at the United Nations
Millennium Summit, drylands were identified as
an essential factor for the achievement of sustainable
development. Eight of the world’s ten poorest
countries contain a majority of drylands and,
as such, actions to conserve and maintain the
health of drylands are intimately linked to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs).
It is for this reason that we
have a responsibility, through the adoption of
the 2010 biodiversity
target and the Millennium Development Goals to
improve the quality of human life and biodiversity
in drylands.
It is for the same reason that
2006 was named the International Year of Deserts
and Desertification. It is also the reason that
this year’s theme for the celebration of the International
Day for Biological Diversity is “Protect Biodiversity
in Drylands”. And it is for the same reason that
122 Ministers and other Heads of Delegation attending
the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
in Curitiba, Brazil, demonstrated their solidarity
and support to the affected countries and their
people by marking the celebration of the International
Year of Deserts and Desertification.
The International Day for Biological
Diversity provides us with a unique opportunity
to renew our commitment as a community of nations
bound by a common, long-term, ecological destiny.
“To those who come to the desert
with tolerance it gives friendliness; to those
who come with
courage it gives new strength of character.” I
invite you all to courageously support concrete
actions to conserve and sustainably use the biological
diversity of dry and sub-humid lands. Only by
acting with courage, conviction and a sense of
collective solidarity will we achieve the 2010
target in dry and sub-humid lands and save life
on Earth.
