The findings on biodiversity are shocking: species are vanishing at such high speed that researchers are talking in terms of a sixth major mass extinction happening within human history. Except that this time it will not be caused by a geological disaster, but by human beings, our production and consumption patterns and our modes of living. The incisive analysis and alarming statistics are not matched by a proportionate public awareness or a political agenda.
The present publication (PDF) introducing this complex issue area is a joint attempt by the Centre for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America (Forschungs-und Dokumentationszentrum Chile-Lateinamerika e. V. – FDCL) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation to clarify the vital development-policy significance of the discussion over biodiversity.
The printed version of the publication can be ordered via Email: firstname.lastname@example.org (3,00 EUR postage costs).
The publication is part of our Dossier on Biodiversity Conference in Cancún (CBD COP 13).
Table of contents:
How it all began
- Biodiversity – the stellar career of a concept
- Rio 1992 – the birth of a Convention
- The CBD and the precautionary principle
- Nature as service provider
- Natural capital – the economic about-face in biodiversity conservation
Milestones in the Convention’s development
- From Rio to Cartagena
- From Cartagena to Nagoya
- The CBD intervenes: new and emerging issues
On the path to Cancún – contention surrounds synthetic biology
- CRISPR – the gene scissors
- Synthetic biology – making nature new and different
- Synthetic biology and the CBD
Mainstreaming biodiversity or the quest for quantifiable nature
Who owns nature – intellectual property rights, agriculture and biodiversity
The CBD – a disputed terrain