European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Tuesday for a global agreement on protecting biodiversity with the same scale and ambition as the Paris climate pact.

Addressing the World Economic Forum by videolink, von der Leyen said the EU would lobby for such a deal at the COP-15 UN biodiversity summit in Kunming, China expected to take place later this year.

"This will have to be like COP21 was for climate, because we need a Paris-style agreement for biodiversity," she said.

The Kunming summit was postponed last year due to the coronavirus epidemic, and world governments are focused on fighting the outbreak and restarting their economies.

But von der Leyen, herself a trained doctor before becoming a German politician, said protecting a diverse range of species and habitats could be key to protecting human health.

"If we don't urgently act to protect our nature, the next pandemic will be around the corner," she said, citing an anecdote that suggested deforestation in Africa had displaced bats and contributed to an Ebola outbreak.

"To those who prefer the business case, here it is: More than half of global GDP is dependent on high-functioning biodiversity and ecosystem services -- from food to tourism," she said.

The World Economic Forum is an annual get-together of political and business leaders, traditionally held in the Swiss resort of Davos, but this year held online.

Von der Leyen hailed new US President Joe Biden's early decision to return to the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, which his predecessor Donald Trump had abandoned.

And she said that the European Commission's economic recovery plan -- her so-called Green Deal -- would boost growth while reducing greenhouse emissions and protecting biodiversity.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The surprises of color evolution
Groningen, Netherlands (SPX) Jan 26, 2021
Nature is full of colour. For flowers, displaying colour is primarily a means to attract pollinators. Insects use their colour vision not only to locate the right flowers to feed on but also to find mates. The evolutionary interaction between insects and plants has created complex dependencies that can have surprising outcomes. Casper van der Kooi, a biologist at the University of Groningen, uses an interdisciplinary approach to analyse the interaction between pollinators and flowers. In January, he was ... read more