• Tweeter

  • republish

Photo of illustration: no woman designates a globe at the Frankfurt Book Fair, October 13, 2011. DANIEL ROLAND / AFP

This Monday, April 29 opened in Paris, under the auspices of the UN and for a week, a large meeting on biodiversity (IPBES), with experts from 132 countries and representatives of the States. For scientists, it is a question of taking stock of the species that live on our planet.

It is mainly about launching a red alert: the number of species living on our planet - what is called biodiversity - is in free fall. Scientists came to this meeting with an extremely detailed 1,800-page report, an undisclosed report for now, but one that shows every aspect of this loss.

Cascading effects

All the factors of this loss of biodiversity have in common the presence and development of man: firstly, urban sprawl, which inevitably reduces the territory of other species. Then comes the exploitation of resources, fishing, hunting, deforestation, then all types of pollution, the use of pesticides. There is also the development of invasive species and global warming.

The causes are numerous and interact in cascade on the ecosystems, the fauna, but also the flora.

►Also read: A global report measures the impact of changes in biodiversity

The 6th great extinction

A leaked figure of this report, which will be dissected all this week: up to a million species could disappear from our planet in the next decades, out of the 8 million species on Earth.

We think of these iconic species like the tiger, the Asian elephant or the gorilla, but there are many others. Insects, many organisms, fish, mammals and others living in the oceans, in coral reefs are also at risk, as well as many species of birds living in forests.

Many scientists speak of the 6th great extinction. Because in the troubled past of the Earth, there have already been five episodes where life has been seriously threatened. The most recent occurred 65 million years ago: eight out of ten species disappeared.

How to fight against these extinctions ?

Representatives from the 132 countries are going to dissect this report to produce a summary that must make everyone agree by the end of the week. A French negotiator told RFI this Monday that this work is " neither fun nor sexy " because each comma is discussed ...

But it is necessary, because it is on the basis of this summary that the States will have to take initiatives to protect the species, at the meeting in China in 2020, with binding commitments. It's the same process as for the climate. The only difference: the question of biodiversity being less well known, we must catch up and convince policy makers urgently.

Nothing prevents countries from taking initiatives to protect the species living on their soil. This is particularly the case in France, with the biodiversity plan .

But to have large, effective international agreements, you have to discuss, convince. One can thus wonder what will be the attitude of the United States or Brazil , knowing the reluctance of these countries for actions for the climate. What will happen to biodiversity? It will be necessary to see, at the end of this week, if the States manage to agree to validate a convincing summary, on which they will then be able to rely to act in concert.

►To read: The decline of French biodiversity is getting worse