Biodiversity is Our Life
2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations. Organizations and individuals around the world are celebrating the variety of life on earth. A UK partnership has been set up to promote biodiversity in Britain, IYB-UK. Solihull MBC is proud to be part of this partnership and to support IYB, welcome to our dedicated website!
Why 2010?
In 2002, Governments set 2010 as a deadline to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of biodiversity for reducing poverty.
What is biodiversity?
Simply put, biodiversity is the variety of life on earth
Why does biodiversity matter?
The world is losing biodiversity at an ever-increasing rate as a result of human activity. In the UK we have lost over 100 species during the last century, with many more species and habitats in danger of disappearing, especially at the local level.
Biodiversity losses are irreversible, impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on. Not only can we prevent biodiversity loss, we also have the opportunity to enhance our environment which will not only safeguard biodiversity, it will ensure we can enjoy healthy, functioning ecosystems and enrich us all.
Biodiversity is our life.
What is the solution?
We need to:
- Reflect on our achievements to safeguard biodiversity
- Focus on the urgent challenges ahead, which include:
– Relating biodiversity to everyone’s daily needs so that the ownership for saving biodiversity is spread and everyone feels responsible for stopping loss.
– Ensuring science, policy and politics play an equal role in decision making.
– Translating economic arguments for conservation action into national and local actions to realize the potential of biodiversity
– Revaluing our choices and life-styles to provide space for the species that inhabit this Earth - Act now!
Get Involved, Do One Thing!
All of us can do something positive for biodiversity this year. SMBC is supporting the UK's International Year of Biodiversity campaign to Do One Thing. Resolve to do something in the new year for biodiversity - if you're not sure what to do, we have some suggestions below. And when you do it, tell your friends and family about it to encourage them to do something too.
Suggestions of things we can all do for International Year of Biodiversity:
- Make a place for nature near you through Breathing Places
- Encourage wildlife into your garden and enter the Solihull Garden Competition
- Volunteer at a local nature reserve
- Become an environmental champion
- Join in a local biodiversity event
...and when you've made your pledge, spread the word:
If you have a twitter account, follow Solihull Council's page and tell us what you're doing. 
Don't forget to follow @iybuk on twitter too!
What's on IYB2010?
Get involved in local events and support biodiversity in Solihull. This page is also available as an RSS feed news feed 
. What's an RSS news feed?