Ministries of the United Kingdom and Brazil launch publication

On 28 October 2010, the UK's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will launch a publication on the links between the climate change and biodiversity agendas. Supported by the Brazilian's Ministry of Environment, Everything is connected: Climate and Biodiversity in a fragile world will be launched in Nagoya, Japan, during a side event organised by the Brazilian Government during the 10 ^th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, with the presence of the UK's Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Caroline Spelman, and Brazil's Minister of the Environment, Izabella Teixeira.

According to the ministers, healthy ecosystems and a stable climate are essential to the human well-being and development. The opening text calls attention to the fact that urgent issues are at stake, and that irreversible impacts are foreseen if there is no effective action geared towards sustainability.

"Unless we understand the existing links between climate, biodiversity and development, it will be very difficult to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to rid the world of hunger, poverty and diseases. By threatening the natural systems, we are threatening our own well-being and prosperity", Spelman and Teixeira argue in the publication foreword that they jointly sign.

The publication, which brings eight original articles written by specialists, such as Pavan Sukhdev, Special Advisor of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative, also defends that we must reassess the way we use, value and protect natural resources. For Spelman and Teixeira, creating economically possible and sustainable solutions will not be a simple task. However, it is essential to find them and make them work.

"Recognising the true value of biodiversity and ecosystem services and taking into account in our economic decisions could help to steer governments, businesses and society towards a greener global economy", they affirm.

Immediate action, global problem

Teixeira and Spelman believe that changes in the way we think will be a great step towards effective actions. "Although many of us feel distant from nature, for the majority of people on Earth, biodiversity loss is an immediate threat to their health and livelihoods."

For the Brazilian Minister of Environment and the UK's Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a bigger international debate is necessary. "We firmly believe that by identifying and acting on the links between climate and biodiversity we can safeguard our precious natural capital while adapting to and mitigating the threat from climate change", they end the publication's foreword, hoping that by sharing Brazil's experience in that subject, they will be contributing to this debate.

For further information , please contact Fernanda Ros at the British Embassy in Brasilia: + 55 61 3329-2394 or + 55 61 3329 2342.