Endangered Biodiversity Photo Album

In the lead-up to the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, the UK's Guardian newspaper solicited suggestions from its readers for actions to prompt governments into action. The meeting
ultimately produced the Nagoya protocol whose goals are to increase protected land from 12.5% to 17%, increase protected oceans from less than 1% to 10% and to cut the species loss rate by 50% by the year 2020. Formidable goals.

One of the ways to achieve these goals is simply by raising awareness. I'm pleased to say that Eco-Now is now listed by the content aggregator Alltop in its Biodiversity section, which we hope will help us reach a wider audience. If you're using Alltop, you can add us to your feed like so: Feed: http://econowblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss Tell your friends.

Anyway, to celebrate, I present the Guardian's photo album that illustrates the various species on whose behalf actions need to be taken.

Harrison Ford on Saving Biodiversity

Here's an article from CNN from last fall when nations were in Nagoya, Japan to try to find a way to save Earth's biodiversity. Harrison Ford was there as the vice chairman of Conservation International and it's interesting to see that he was urging nations to protect at least 25 percent of Earth's land mass and 15% of Earth's oceans. If you watch the video on the CNN link, once you get past all the promo stuff, you can see he's not the most enthusiastic spokesman for biodiversity -- he sounds a little tired -- but hey, good for him for doing it and I applaud him for his urgency. We need more spokespeople.

The New York Times summarized the agreement the next day. The Nagoya Protocol set targets of protecting 17% of land and 10% of Earth's oceans by 2020.

Meanwhile, back in Boston, the third annual Race Against Extinction runs on April 17. It's only 5 K and the registration, which goes to conservation groups like WWF and Conservation International, is only $25. Any takers? I think we should make it an official Ecolympics event worth at least 25 points.