bio-diversity
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Oregan High Desert |
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Rock-pool habitat |
When we talk about Biodiversity we mean all the living things in
nature, this means both plant and animal life. Think for a moment
about all the plants, trees, mosses, fish, deer, foxes, spiders,
dolphins, turtles....and the many more creatures and plants there
are living across the world in terrestrial (land), aquatic (freshwater)
and marine (saltwater) habitats. There is an awful lot of life covered
by the word ‘Biodiversity’! The word itself comes from
two words ‘biological’ and ‘diversity’
Generally wildlife conservationists try to maintain or improve natural
biodiversity. In Britain people have been looking and recording
information about habitats and the plants and animals that live
in them for a long time. Records can then be used to see changes
in habitats and the creatures that live in them over time. Declines
in bird, mammal and fish species have been noted and drawn to the
attention of governments across the world.
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Shingle beach |
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Goss Moor |
In 1992 the Earth Summit was
held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and 157 governments signed an agreement
called the ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ (CBD).
This agreement was to take action to stop the loss of habitats,
animals and plant species. In the United Kingdom in 1994 a plan
was published called ‘Biodiversity: The UK Action Plan’.
You might have heard about Rio+10 which was held
in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
UK
Biodiversity Action Plan
Rio
+10 website
http://www.fao.org/wssd/Index_en.htm |
