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Next week 'S UN summit will be determined ambitious plans to protect life on Earth. But if the U.S. ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt the bout of losses will be even tougher

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If the world has been reminded of anything through the tragedy of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it is that biodiversity and the health of ecosystems is neither an abstract scientific concept nor the pet project of a green elite. Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems are the vital underpinnings of human society.

Food and energy production on land and from the sea; medicine; tourism, and real estate: these industries and many others have been shown to be starkly vulnerable to the destruction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. And yet, while the link between biodiversity and human well-being is better understood now than ever before, the news from the frontlines of the global effort to preserve the world's biodiversity is bleak. The web of life that we all rely on for our very survival is being torn apart at an increasingly alarming rate and action to address this global crisis is still distressingly lacking and slow.

Our failure to act might be attributed, in part, to the misperception that preserving the world's biodiversity is a legacy issue, one to be addressed in the future. But the conclusions of the third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO3), Basic Assessment Report issued in May this year under the Convention on Biological Diversity , put that misapprehension to rest. Drawing on 120 national reports from parties to this unique legal treaty aimed at protecting life on earth, it soberly warns that without collective action, our ecosystems will approach tipping-points, putting human lives and livelihoods, as well as such irreplaceable services as air and water purification, the renewal of soil fertility, and climate stabilisation at risk of irreversible degradation and collapse.

While the poor are particularly vulnerable, no one on earth is immune from the negative impacts of deforestation, species extinction, the collapse of coral reefs, loss of fresh water lakes, and ocean acidification. An estimated 1 billion people in developing countries depend upon fish as their primary source of food. However, 80% of the world's fisheries are fully or over-exploited. As biologists from Stanford University, California, have said: "The idea that economic growth is independent of environmental health, and that humanity can therefore indefinitely expand its physical economy, is a dangerous delusion." Therefore, only through sustained conservation will future generations of the developed and developing worlds meet their food, health, energy and security needs.

This autumn, there are two important moments in our attempt to create a new paradigm for a global response to the world's biodiversity challenges. On 22 September, in observance of the International Year of Biodiversity, world leaders will call for the introduction of sustainable practices in land and resource use, an increase in protected areas around the world, and for plans to reconcile development with conservation.

For the first time at the UN Heads of State and Government and officials from its 192 Member States will hold meetings devoted solely to biodiversity crisis.

In October, the summit of Nagoya Biodiversity will take place in Aichi prefecture, Japan. There, the 193 parties to the convention on biological diversity will adopt a new strategic plan for 2011-2020, containing new targets for 2020 and a new biodiversity vision for 2050.

Meaningful success in this effort will require the full commitment of all nations, and here, the US falls sadly short of the mark. The US is, inexcusably, one of only three countries that have not ratified full acceptance of the convention.

President Obama firmly stated his commitment to solving the world 'S environmental crisis. At the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen at the end of last year, the president referred to "Our responsibility to leave our children and grandchildren are cleaner and safer planet".

As the most comprehensive biodiversity treaty to date, the convention will provide a unique opportunity for the president to fulfil these responsibilities and inspire the renewed dedication of the global community.

We urge him to aggressively pursue the process of US ratification. Let's all look forward to the moment that the US rejoins the champions of biodiversity and formally dedicates itself as a nation to preserving and protecting life on earth.

• Edward Norton, an actor and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Biodiversity appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon .

Copyright: IPS

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