by Rosie Deane, AW Berkshire Surrey IWC and Environment Team Co-Chair
For those of us educated in the latter part of the 20th century, the term “biodiversity” may not be that familiar. So, what are we actually referring to, and how did this term come about?
Cast your minds back to 1992 and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It was at this United Nations meeting that three conventions were initiated: on Climate Change, Biological Diversity, and Desertification. Each of these conventions hold regular meetings known as the Conference of the Parties or COPs. The Climate COP is undoubtedly the most famous (or some may say infamous) and takes place on an annual basis. Both the Biological Diversity and Desertification COPs are biennial, hence we are approaching COP 17 for Biodiversity, but COP 31 for Climate.
Somewhere along the line, the words “biological” and “diversity” merged into “biodiversity,” to denote all living things on the planet—plants, animals and ecosystems—but it is the diversity of ecosystems, species within those ecosystems and genes within those species which are critical to ensuring the resilience of Mother Nature.
However, it was not until 2010, at the meeting of the United Nations Environmental Program in Busan, Korea that it was agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to highlight the important role these play for all life on the planet, including human life. This organisation, which plays a similar role to that of the IPCC for climate change, has the acronym IPBES (and is pronounced ip – bez). In 2023, at COP15, all the members agreed upon the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of marine and terrestrial biodiversity by 2030, with an ambition of a “world living in harmony with nature by 2050.”
In December 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted May 22 as the International Day for Biological Diversity, in commemoration of the date of adoption of the agreed text of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Each year has a different theme, and the theme for 2026 is “Acting locally for global impact,” through which people are encouraged to come together in their communities and engage in activities that connect people to nature. It could be as simple as organizing a walk in the park with your club members and seeing how many species you can identify. Or sitting quietly and listening to the birdsong in your garden.
How will you celebrate the International Day of Biological Diversity?
Logo from the Convention on Biological Diversity's Social Media Toolkit
