Without rapid, deep, and widespread action, we risk losing a million species and experiencing a 3°C increase in average global temperature over the next few decades. We therefore need clear priorities now to protect and actively manage nature to secure our own future. The scientific facts are on the table. They are unequivocal. For example, the current rate of extinction exceeds the natural loss of species by up to 100 times.

Two concrete examples: From 1970 to 2012, global populations of large, well-known freshwater species – such as river dolphins, sturgeons, and crocodiles – declined by 88 percent; as a result, 24 of the world’s 26 sturgeon species are threatened with extinction. The annual global economic loss due to the current species extinction is estimated at around 4 trillion US dollars. And despite the immense threat, there is still a lack of awareness, of the courage to act, and of effective implementation by politics, business, and society.

The 1st Earth Summit took place 30 years ago in Rio de Janeiro in the spring of 1992. The 15th World Summit on Nature (Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD COP 15) in late summer 2022, presumably in Kunming (China), must set ambitious, concrete, and verifiable targets for the global protection of biological diversity – not least to achieve the climate protection goals. At the same time, the fundamental societal transformation in how we deal with our natural lifesupporting resources must be accelerated.