 |
We
celebrate Australia’s biodiversity in all its
variety: ecosystems, species and genes. This
diversity plays a vital role in sustaining
life on Earth, as plants, animals and living
systems interact with the physical environment
powered by the sun’s energy. We, as human beings,
are an integral part of the planet’s biodiversity.
Our lives depend on it and we have a responsibility
to protect it. We respect and support the role
of Australian Indigenous peoples in caring
for country in the past, present and future.
We see protecting
biodiversity as an essential part of tackling
human-induced climate change. It is the Earth’s
biodiversity that endows nature with its
resilience and adaptive capabilities, and
simultaneously, provides large permanent
carbon stocks that are essential to slowing
global warming.
The
United Nations recognises the importance
of global biological diversity
to sustaining life on earth and
urges all nations to prevent further
irreversible losses. It has designated
2010 the International Year of
Biodiversity to celebrate biodiversity
and raise awareness of the huge
loss of biodiversity on Earth.
On the 10th
anniversary of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, in 2002, Australia and other parties
adopted the 2010 Biodiversity Target: to
reduce significantly the rate of biodiversity
loss at global, regional and national levels. The
Target was subsequently endorsed by the United
Nations General Assembly and incorporated into
the Millennium Development Goals.
Australia
has failed to achieve its 2010
Biodiversity Target. We are
experiencing an extinction crisis
with ongoing major threats to terrestrial,
freshwater and marine environments.
Australia’s Draft Terrestrial Biodiversity
Assessment 2008 finds that existing
threats to biodiversity are rapidly
escalating and that climate change
will compound these pressures further.
It is now well documented that
Australia could face a biological
catastrophe.
Australia
can avert this impending disaster. As
a nation, we can halt the species
extinction crisis, reduce global
warming, maintain and restore vital
Indigenous cultural connections,
and expand jobs and economies in
rural, regional and remote areas.
It requires the Australian Government,
in concert with the community,
all levels of government, and business,
to take urgent, committed action.
We
call upon the Australian Government to act
decisively to fulfil its international and
national promises to protect biodiversity. Specifically
in 2010 -- the International Year of Biodiversity
-- we call on the Australian Government to:
|
1 |
Acknowledge
the critical importance of safeguarding
biodiversity as part of Australia's climate
change response and commit to correspondingly
urgent action to address the systemic
drivers of biodiversity loss. In
so doing, due recognition should be given
both to the threat that global warming
poses to biodiversity and ecosystems
such as the Great Barrier Reef, and to
the vital role these have in mitigating
dangerous climate change including by
permanently storing carbon |
2 |
Substantially
increase investment in biodiversity and
ecosystem protection, restoration and
management to at least $9 billion over
the three years to 2012 and establish
an independent widely consultative process
into future funding and stewardship of
Australia's, terrestrial, aquatic and
marine biodiversity; |
3 |
Restore
and increase the capacity for publicly
funded biodiversity research, auditing,
monitoring, accounting and communication,
including through an expanded independent
Land, Water and Biodiversity authority;
and |
4 |
Develop
our biodiversity education and training
programs so that all sectors of the Australian
community and business have the knowledge
to understand the magnitude of current
threats to our biodiversity and the skills
to take action to conserve our biodiversity
and ecosystems. This is essential
to transforming our nation to a healthy,
sustainable society and economy. |
|
 |
December
2009 |
|
|
|
|
