2010: International Year of Biodiversity
Humans are part of nature’s rich diversity and have the power to protect or destroy it.
Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living networks and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital services our lives depend on.
Human activity is causing the diversity of life on Earth to be lost at a greatly accelerated rate. These losses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on everyday. But we can prevent them.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. Let’s reflect on our achievements to safeguard biodiversity and focus on the urgency of our challenge for the future. Now is the time to act.
Rainforest Life - London’s only living rainforest
The rainforest is a bustling neighbourhood.
The warmth you feel, the water that drips and trees which soar give rise to a bewildering array of inhabitants.
Indicators and Assessments Unit
The Indicators and Assessments Unit was formed in 2006 to consolidate work at ZSL on defining the status and trends of biodiversity.
A whole world of biodiversity under one roof
ZSL London Zoo's B.U.G.S! (Biodiversity Underpinning Global Survival) exhibit displays over 140 species - a tiny sample but enough to demonstrate what biodiversity is, how it has come about and how its future depends on us.
For a chance to catch up with some rather unusual animals, plus to learn more about the natural world around us, take a trip through B.U.G.S! and find out more about biodiversity, genetics, extinction and conservation.
What ZSL is doing?
"Biodiversity means the variety of life living on our planet. It is extremely important to protect every species from the smallest ant to the largest elephant, as each one plays a vital role in keeping our planet healthy.
"Here at ZSL, we’re involved in global monitoring surveys to determine the numbers of different species and detect any changes in their populations.
"Monitoring species is essential, so that we can be forewarned of any species that is in serious decline and help ensure that the complex web of life that exits on our planet is conserved.” Dr Ben Collen
, Head of
ZSL’s Indicators and Assessment Unit
.
Biodiversity themed meetings
ZSL's Communicating Science series regularly addresses biodiversity issues, inviting key experts to share their knowledge and encourage debate.
Symposium: Foundations of Biodiversity - saving the world's non-vertebrates
While species coverage of vertebrates in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has increased in number each year since the inception of the Red Data Book in the 1960s, coverage of non-vertebrate groups, which represent the majority of the world's biodiversity, has been very poor indeed.
Find out more about about this symposium
Symposium: Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction
Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction: what, why and how? - A two-day ZSL symposium.
The links between environment and development have long been discussed, but only recently has this discussion focused specifically on the possible links between biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.
