UK’s Environmental Secretary calls for action to protect biodiversity

In an article written for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s online News, Right Honorable Hilary Benn, Member of Parliament and UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cautioned that biodiversity worldwide is reaching a point of irreversible loss.

Highlighting the interdependence between human activities and ecological systems, he warned that deforestation, overfishing, and other environmental abuse is impacting sustainability on all levels.

Secretary Benn stated, “…Our ecosystems also sustain us and our economies – purifying our drinking water, producing our food and regulating our climate. Climate change and biodiversity are inextricably linked.

We ignore (such) natural capital at our peril.” His Excellency concluded by urging for continued protective measures with close monitoring for effectiveness, saying that the time to act is now.

Our earnest appreciation, Your Excellency Hilary Benn, for bringing attention to the vital safeguarding of Earth’s biodiversity. Let us be quickly motivated to work together in saving our irreplaceable planet and co-inhabitants.

Concerned for our global welfare, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the need to act to protect all beings on Earth, as during July 2008 Heart-Touch Tour videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan).

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Up to now, we have lost so many, not just marine life, but land species. They disappear faster than we can imagine. They suffer a lot, they die, or they completely disappear because of our careless management of the world.

And we just feel like it doesn’t concern us or that we are not responsible for their plight, for the death and disappearance of our precious co-inhabitants. But the fact is that we are responsible.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We have to stop the harmful effect of meat consumption, then we will see a happy, sufficient and satisfied world manifest in front of our eyes in a matter of weeks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8461727.stm
http://www.hilarybennmp.com/41c571d4-9a4c-85c4-3104-a7b2af04423e
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8467746.stm
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/
http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2010/01/biodiversity_year.html

Species increasingly jeopardized by global warming

In listing the top most threatened species for 2010, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) experts in Scotland, United Kingdom have included some well-known animals such as polar bears, butterflies and tigers but have also now added the Pacific walrus, the giant panda and the blue-fin tuna.

All of these species are at greater risk than before due to climate change and related deforestation as well as illegal hunting. With Scotland having declared an ambitious 42% emissions reduction goal for 2020, WWF Scotland Director Dr. Richard Dixon said, “We have a window of opportunity in which to step up and pull back some of the world’s most splendid animals from the brink of extinction.”

He went on to encourage more actions that do not wait for global climate agreements, saying that local governments can work toward green goals that also create jobs and improve lives. Many thanks, Dr. Dixon, World Wildlife Fund Scotland and the Scottish government for your endeavors to both inform and mitigate human-caused environmental damage.

May leaders at all levels heed the call to preserve these precious beings so that they may continue to grace our Earth with their presence. In her ongoing concern for the welfare of all beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai once again addressed the imperiled situation of our animal co-inhabitants during an August 2008 videoconference with our Canadian Association members.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: They are trying their best to sound the warning bell, warning by disease, and even death en masse, but I don’t know how many of us are listening. They are trying to help us, but we are trying to kill them. It’s a very sad affair. We humans have to do everything we can, not waiting for the animals. They are already dying, dying, dying. Numerous are dying every day.

So many other signs in nature, so many animal signs, but we have to listen. It’s not the animals. It’s us.
We just have to remind everybody to be veg and to be kind to the animals. That's the only way we can protect them.

http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/2403/
http://scotland.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/about_wwf_scotland/

Two-thirds of the planet’s species may soon be gone

Dr. Peter Raven, an accomplished US conservationist, professor of Botany at Washington University in Missouri, USA and president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, gave a keynote speech at the 23rd International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) in Beijing, China, where he stated that because of habitat destruction, climate change and other human related activities, many of the world’s species could disappear even before many of them have been formally discovered. Dr. Raven said, “Currently, several thousand species are lost every year and very soon the number could rise to more than 10,000.”

He encouraged greater public awareness on species protection along with more parks and nature reserves. Dr. Raven and the International Congress for Conservation Biology, your efforts to raise awareness of the plight of all species and our planet are much needed and appreciated.

Let us all join in promoting sustainable living that honors and preserves all life. Ever-concerned for Earth’s survival, during a videoconference in August 2008 with our Association members in Canada, Supreme Master Ching Hai suggested steps that humanity can take to protect our co-inhabitants.

Supremem Master Ching Hai: If we just protect our environment and we turn our hearts into a compassionate way of life, then like attracts like. If we treasure life, then life will be coming back in abundance.

I'm also sorry, like you, because some beautiful animals, some beautiful species are just gone. If we don't do anything to protect the animals and the planet, maybe in the future, we will be only looking at them from photos, like a history, like dinosaurs or something.

But we are doing what we can. We just have to remind everybody to be veg and to be kind to the animals. That's the only way we can protect them.

Reference:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/12/content_11696924.htm

http://www.discoverlife.org/who/CV/Raven,_Peter.html