Nature by numbers (From The Argus)

Nature by numbers

6:00am Saturday 9th January 2010

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It is no great shock to learn that our conservation intentions can sometimes fail to hit the spot. The Kyoto Protocol is possibly the finest example of this in our time. Set out in 1997 to stabilise global greenhouse emissions, in 2010 emissions have never been higher. Second place would arguably go to the Convention On Biological Diversity (CBD). Adopted in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the treaty said that by this year, global biodiversity loss would be significantly curtailed, and completely halted in Europe.

Some estimates say that since numbers of modern humans have boomed, species extinction rates have soared from 20 to 30 per year to a range of 20,000 to 30,000.

The CBD has done little to put a dent in this figure, with one eminent American biologist warning that within just two decades the number will have increased by 1,000%.

Dr Dan Danahar is biodiversity co-ordinator at Dorothy Stringer School, Biodiversity Officer for the Sussex Branch of Butterfly Conservation and Co-ordinator for Brighton & Hove's Big Nature.

He says: “Lots has been done but little that has had the type of impact hoped for. [Secretary-general of the United Nations] Ban Ki Moon said we need to celebrate biodiversity in 2010, otherwise it’s going to look pretty bad. So we’re making it the International Year Of Biodiversity (IYB).”

This, according to the CBD website is “a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives”.

The value of biodiversity is quite plain to see. As rampant loss of species continues, the planet loses the vital roles played by the animals and plants that have gone.

One theory suggests if one species goes, others will take over its job, but another thinks there are “keystone species”, such as bees, whose disappearance can cause havoc.

Dan offers the analogy of being on an aeroplane and seeing a bolt fly out of the wing. It’s unnerving, but not too much to worry about.

But if you see another one go, and another, and another, you would start to panic. Then one final rivet drops out and the whole structure collapses.

In Brighton and Hove, a loose coalition of several environmental organisations, including the Sussex Wildlife Trust, Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, the Dorothy Stringer Environmental Trust, Butterfly Conservation, the British Ecological Society and the RSPB, have formed “Big Nature” to celebrate the IYB through raising awareness of the other creatures sharing our city.

Dan says: “The term is ‘raising bioliteracy’. It’s all about making people familiar with the organisms that live in their local environment. For us to have any notion of how important biodiversity really is, we need to be as aware of the rise and fall of species in our local environment as stockbrokers are of the rise and fall of shares.”

Planned events include the third Big Butterfly Count, where participants record butterfly species in their gardens or local parks. There will also be the phenomenally popular Springwatch event in Preston Park and a “bioblitz”, during which city residents will be encouraged to record as many species as they possibly can during a 24-hour period. The bioblitz will be happening in several places around the country, including Bristol, which will be doing its on the same day as Brighton, and the butterfly count is being partnered with St Joseph school across the Channel in Le Havre, with students discussing their finds via webcams.

There is also a large biodiversity conference planned for later in the year with organisers waiting on the confirmation of some very high profile speakers.

Dan says the idea is to engage as many people as possible. For a long time naturalists have worked hard at recognising species, but the manner in which is it done, using long Latin names and so on, makes it almost a protected domain.

Dan says: “It’s exclusive of members of the public who feel they can’t understand the experts. We want to break that down because if we don’t, the planet is in a bit of a bad way.”

But while biodiversity is an important subject, is climate change not the number one priority of the day?

Many conservationists are beginning to feel as though climate change has hijacked the agenda. While it is a pressing issue, so too is the dramatic species loss we are experiencing. Climate change will affect biodiversity, and biodiversity loss will make it more difficult to adapt to climate change. “The two things together are not a good combination at all,” says Dan.

According to the World Health Organisation, around 60% of the benefits provided by the world’s ecosystems – fresh water, clean air and a stable climate – have already been damaged through agriculture, mineral extraction and other human interference.

Dan says: “The world’s ecosystems, this fabric of life which is continuously impoverished and diminished, is the very thing that enables us to exist on the planet.

It is really under threat. It’s irreplaceable. I think that’s what most people don’t realise. You can’t turn the clock back. If in 2050 it all gets really bad, we can’t say ‘OK, we’ll put them back’. They’re gone. Gone forever.”

Does he think he’s being a bit evangelical about the whole situation? “It’s not like the data isn’t there. This is something we need to get done in the career of a single individual. Prince Charles is talking about ten years. Other people are saying even less time than that.

“The National History Museum [the UK agent for the global IYB programme] is saying they don’t want to alarm people, they just want to engage them. But it seems to me there is not a lot of time to get this right.”

* Find more information about Big Nature and the International Year Of Biodiversity by visiting www.bigbiodiversitycount.org.uk.

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