Global biodiversity loss is increasing and impossible to ignore. Previous efforts to slow or halt it have not been successful nor were targets set in 2002 by world governments.  This abysmal reality is supported by the latest numbers from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .

According to IUCN “twenty-one percent of all known mammals, 29 percent of all known amphibians, 12 percent of all known birds, 35 percent of conifers and cycads, 17 percent of sharks and 27 percent of reef-building corals are threatened with extinction” with the current species extinction rate being between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than it would naturally be.

Recognizing that the main drivers of biodiversity loss are due to human activities such as conversion of natural areas to farming and urban development; introduction of invasive alien species; pollution or over-exploitation of resources and unsustainable harvesting of wild plants and animals world governments are meeting once again, this time in Nagoya, Japan at the Tenth Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to hammer out a new set of targets and agreed-ways to meet them. 

To raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity for sustaining life on earth and the need for a successful outcome to these negotiations, the Environmental Libraries of Manitoba (ELM) have published a bibliography of readings on biodiversity with contributions from each ELM member library. The end result is a reading list representing the interests of a diverse group of audiences.

Readings on Biodiversity

Further Information:

IUCN Nagoya Diary
Convention on Biological Diversity  
Earth Negotiations Bulletin reporting on Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity 18-29 October 2010 | Nagoya, Japan