Meeting the 2020 Biodiversity Targets/Atteindre les Objectifs 2020 Pour la Biodiveristé

Abstract

The world’s biodiversity is being lost faster than ever. As we destroy it, we lose its capacity to deliver the ecosystem services such as crop pollination, climate regulation and freshwater provision upon which we all depend. Concerted and coordinated action by governments, business and society is urgently needed in order to halt the extinction of species and stem the loss of natural habitats. The world’s governments have made commitments through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to tackle this issue, and the CBD has proposed 20 targets for 2020 in order to frame and focus action. Birds are better known than any other comparable group of organisms, and we have unparalleled information about which species are the closest to extinction, the threats they face, actions needed and critical sites (Important Bird Areas) that need safeguarding. These data can help to focus and target actions to tackle biodiversity loss. Furthermore, as birds are sensitive to environmental change, popular to watch, and relatively easy to monitor, indicators based on bird data are very useful for tracking progress in addressing the biodiversity crisis. In this booklet, we provide examples for 12 of the CBD targets of how birds can help to focus actions to meet these targets, and how data from birds can help to monitor success.