Bringing Biodiversity to the World Stage

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO, "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 1) Youth and United Nations global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

Chapter 1. Author Christine Gibb, CBD and FAO. Verbatim

In 1992, an Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where governments, indigenous groups, women’s groups, environmental groups, activists and other non-governmental organisations met to discuss the environment. It was the largest international environmental meeting ever.

In Rio, world leaders agreed that it was important to protect the environment for all people, including future generations.To reach this goal, the leaders decided to adopt three conventions (or agreements): the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). At the summit, participants agreed on the following definition of biodiversity:  

“the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” This is the official definition used by the Convention on Biological Diversity.