Statement

Message of Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity on the Occasion of the Celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity at the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, 22 May 2007

Climate change is a real threat to our own future and to other species that share this planet. Following the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released earlier this year, this is crystal clear. We are already losing biodiversity at rates unprecedented since the demise of the dinosaurs, with extinction rates estimated to be between one hundred and one thousand times the “natural” rate. With climate change, extinction rates may be up to ten thousand times the “natural” rate by the end of the century.

Publication Date
2007-05-22