Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG 15) of the 2030 Agenda focuses on protecting, restoring, and promoting the sustainable use of land, forests, and ecosystems. It also aims to stop desertification, reverse land damage, and prevent biodiversity loss.
At the Rio+20 Conference, countries agreed that protecting biodiversity and ecosystems is very important. In paragraphs 197–204 of the outcome document The Future We Want, they recognised that biodiversity has many values – ecological, scientific, economic, cultural, and social. Healthy ecosystems provide important services that support sustainable development and improve people’s well-being. The document also pointed out that the loss of biodiversity and damage to ecosystems affect food, water, nutrition, and health—especially for the rural poor and people across the world.
At 17 SDG Malaysia, we focus on raising awareness about the link between biodiversity, ecosystems, and sustainable development. We support efforts to protect nature for the benefit of both people and the planet.
The Future We Want also called for the full implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and for achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which were adopted at the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The Commission on Sustainable Development has also discussed biodiversity many times. In 2012–2013, it was one of the main topics.
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, biodiversity was addressed in Chapter IV, paragraph 44 of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. This plan supported the global goal to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 at all levels—global, regional, and national—as a way to reduce poverty and protect life on Earth. This goal had already been approved at the 6th meeting of the CBD COP earlier that year.
The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems is also included in Chapter 15 of Agenda 21, which was adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was opened for signing at the same event. By 4 June 1993, 168 countries had signed it. The agreement came into force on 29 December 1993, 90 days after it was ratified by 30 countries. The first COP meeting was held from 28 November to 9 December 1994 in the Bahamas.
