Losing life's variety. (cover story)

BIODIVERSITY conservation; TREATIES; ECOSYSTEM management; POVERTY reduction; ECOSYSTEM health; NUMBERS of species; ECOLOGICAL impact; UNITED Nations -- Environmental policy; UNITED Nations; INTERNATIONAL cooperation

The article discusses the increasing loss of biodiversity. According to the author, little change has occurred since the 2010 deadline for reversing declines in biodiversity was set. The United Nations has marked 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity in which nations all over the world have signed a treated titled “Convention on Biological Diversity.” The focus of the treaty, which is aimed at alleviating poverty and benefiting all life on Earth, is the reduction of biodiversity loss at the global, regional, and national levels. Topics include the urgency among scientists to seize the occasion to explain biodiversity and why it matters, such as its fundamental importance in ecosystem function, Earth’s vast diversity, and the ecological impact and meaning of species loss. INSETS: WHAT TO DO: Count the costs;WHAT TO DO: Prioritize wild spaces;WHAT TO DO: Tend the not-so-wild.