Uniting forces for #Biodiversity

Ahead of the first ever UN Summit on Biodiversity convening world leaders this 30 September, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) are pleased to join as an official supporter of the European Commission’s Global Coalition for biodiversity.   

As highlighted so profoundly by Sir David Attenborough, the need to fight for the preservation of the natural world has never been clearer and more urgent. The “United for #Biodiversity” Coalition is intended to promote awareness to the general public about the crisis facing our planet and its wildlife and calls on all national parks, aquariums, botanic gardens, zoos, science/natural history museums and research centres to join forces ahead of the crucial CoP 15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2021.

As supporters, BIAZA is joining our European and Global equivalent organisations – the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) – amongst a number of other international organisations representing museums, protected areas and botanical gardens. BIAZA is also encouraging all its members to join the Coalition, sign up its common pledge and help spread the vital messages about the nature crisis.

The Coalition was officially launched on World Wildlife Day this year, with European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius commenting: “Biodiversity crisis is an important part in climate change. Protection and restoration of biodiversity would not only save the nature for future generations, but also help to tackle climate change, and avoid negative consequences on our food, health and economy. We urgently need to take global action, otherwise, our only chance of seeing nature is in the zoos and botanical gardens. That would be a failure of the humankind.”

BIAZA members are already heavily involved in protecting wildlife all around the world. In 2019, members of BIAZA supported 857 field conservation projects, covering every continent, assisted with 1,314 research projects and contributed over £31.5 million to field conservation. However, the work does not stop and BIAZA believes progressive zoos and aquariums are evidence that conservation works, and are vital institutions moving forward in helping to understand and combat issues such as future pandemics by working to protect the natural world.

Find out more here.