Dear Readers,
welcome to the new online platform of Inwent - Capacity Building International, Germany. Digital Development Debates is intended to strengthen development cooperation, bring its participants together – whether they are active in politics, the business community, science or civil society – and promote mutual exchange.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity – a good time to explore the efforts being made by our global community to conserve biological diversity. For although the issue has been incorporated into the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the loss of biological diversity continues unabated.
Forests offer a wide range of living spaces for plants, animals and microorganisms, but forest cover is rapidly declining each year. The REDD Model, currently in use by a number of different projects, can play an important role here.
Protected areas have a vital role in maintaining key habitats and providing refuges. Within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, some successes have been had in the conservation and development of protected areas.
Protecting biodiversity is problematic with respect to patent rights. As soon as a patent is grated for the specific use of a resource, the country of origin can experience difficulties in using that same resource.
Indigenous peoples are being especially hard hit by the current loss of biodiversity. They are often far more dependant on a functioning ecosystem than other groups and without the means to sufficiently protect their traditional knowledge from being patented by third parties.
The loss of biodiversity has economic implications. Increasing numbers of firms and governments are realising this fact and adding their own strategies the effort to conserve biodiversity.
Education should provide individuals with the skills to understand global dependencies and actively participate in the sustainable formation of a global society. As a major challenge facing sustainable development today, biodiversity is well-suited as a topic for global learning.
You are well-versed in one of the topics for the coming issue and would like to join us as an author? It would be our pleasure to welcome you on board – our contact form will pass your suggestion directly on to our editors.
