Almost twenty-five years have passed since the world gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the Earth Summit, and adopted the ground-breaking agreement to protect all life on Earth - the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). On June 5th 1992, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted and opened for signature. On December 29th 1993, the Convention entered into force. In 2018, the Convention on Biological Diversity celebrates 25 years since its entry into force. It is a chance to communicate the importance of biodiversity, and to urge strengthened efforts to achieve the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011- 2020.

We are at an important crossroads, at a time when global loss of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems continues at an unacceptably alarming rate. Thus, even as the world celebrates this milestone, the 25th anniversary provides an opportunity to sound an alarm around the world, and highlight the importance of biodiversity - which provides food, fibre, jobs, climate mitigation and resilience, health and well-being - for people and the planet. The anniversary provides an excellent platform for all those working to protect nature to show how they have implemented the Convention. 

Parties to the Convention and other partners are submitting case studies of their achievements and successes under the Convention, for inclusion in a variety of information products for the year. Around the world, Parties to the Convention are organizing and hosting local celebrations on 22 May 2018, the International Day for Biodiversity. These celebrations are an opportunity for each country to highlight their achievements and report on the progress made thus far towards the implementation of the Convention. For more information on the celebrations, for the logo and to contribute your own success stories visit the website of the Convention.

About the Author

David Ainsworth is the information officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada. He has been a member of the Steering Committee for the Commission on Education and Communication since 2007.
 

• www.cbd.int/idb/2018
• Contact David