The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. The world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: biodiversity

Welcome to the International Year of Biodiversity

You are an integral part of nature; your fate is tightly linked with biodiversity, the huge variety of other animals and plants, the places they live and their surrounding environments, all over the world.

You rely on this diversity of life to provide you with the food, fuel, medicine and other essentials you simply cannot live without. Yet this rich diversity is being lost at a greatly accelerated rate because of human activities. This impoverishes us all and weakens the ability of the living systems, on which we depend, to resist growing threats such as climate change.

The United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss. This is vital for current and future human wellbeing. We need to do more. Now is the time to act.

The International Year of Biodiversity is a unique opportunity to increase understanding of the vital role that biodiversity plays in sustaining life on Earth.

On the pages of this website, you will be able to find out a bit more about the International Year of Biodiversity.

Visit the pages to find out:

• The important role biodiversity plays in our lives and what is happening to it.
• What people are doing around the world to combat biodiversity loss
• How people are celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity
• Some of the resources available to you in your celebrations

Take Action in 2010 and beyond, because

Biodiversity is life

Biodiversity is our life