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Pay attention to Conservation of Natural Systems!!

THE GLOBAL call for attention for natural systems, even in a time of COVID-19, continues to gain traction locally, with respected marine biologist and ecologist Professor Mona Webber noting their immense economic value as reason enough for prioritisation.

“As the world faces numerous challenges and populations become more marginalised, there is a tendency to disregard the issues of natural systems and their associated biodiversity. However, the services produced by natural ecosystems and their associated biota are valued at two times what humans produce each year,” she told The Gleaner.

“Forty per cent of the world’s economy depends on its biodiversity and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor/marginalised are derived from biological resources (biodiversity),” added Webber who heads the Centre for Marine Sciences at The University of the West Indies, Mona.

While recognizing the need for a continued robust response to the global pandemic, which has infected more than 38 million persons and claimed more than one million lives, Webber said there is a place for biodiversity conservation in that response.

“Biodiversity/ecosystem loss or degradation will only worsen the plight of the marginalised and compromise our ability to effectively respond to the pandemic. Conserving natural systems and their biodiversity needs to be seen as investing in the natural infrastructure that supports our economy, as well as the health and well-being of our people,” she said.

“Maintaining biodiversity improves resilience to this pandemic and other crises of the future,” Webber added.

Her comments come in the wake of the recent United Nations Summit on Biodiversity that was hosted under the theme, ‘Urgent Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’.

That event also drew the comment of a number of other local and regional stakeholders who have come out as champions for biodiversity, including head of Caribbean Natural Resources Institute Nicole Leotaud.

“Protecting nature must be at the heart of Caribbean COVID-19 recovery and climate resilience, and we need strong leadership to prioritise biodiversity conservation as a central pillar in Caribbean development,” she has said.

“There is strong commitment and action by civil society and local communities to protect biodiversity and nature-based livelihoods, but more needs to be done at the political level,” Leotaud added.

 

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Published on 15 Oct, 2020

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