Big Nature Debate

Biodiversity surveys

You can also help preserve biodiversity by helping scientists with their research:

• Urban tree survey
• OPAL Biodiversity survey
• Big Seaweed Search
• Big Butterfly Count
• Plant pest surveys
• Plant more trees
• More public surveys

• International Year of Biodiversity UK
• Convention on Biological Diversity
• COP 10 - Nagoya conference
• Biodiversity section of the Museum's website
• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
• The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
• Directgov - Nagoya
• Kew and biodiversity
• What is ZSL doing for biodiversity?

• 42% of all amphibian species and 40% of all bird species are declining in population.
• Scientists estimate that nearly a quarter of plant species are threatened with extinction.
• Experts say that more than 95% of North American grasslands may have been lost.

Visit the International Year of Biodiversity website (IYBUK) for more biodiversity facts.

In October, shortly before the Nagoya conference, a panel of experts discussed the issues you raised on these pages. We passed the key points on to the government.

Watch a video of the live debate

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Find out more about biodiversity and why it is under threat.

• What threatens our biodiversity?
• More about biodiversity
• Species of the day section on biodiversity

Who owns biodiversity?

Is fairer use of the Earth's resources the answer to poverty and inequality?

New types of resources, such as genetic information, are becoming available all the time. How can the benefits be shared? Find out more about the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) protocol.

What is the economic value of biodiversity?

Fertile soil and clean air appear to be free. But if we give them an economic value, perhaps we will value them more. Find out more in The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report.

Who owns scientific information about biodiversity?

An inter-governmental panel on biodiversity, like the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change), could help to make scientific evidence about biodiversity loss available to all countries.

What targets should we set?

Targets set at the last biodiversity conference were hard to measure and hard to achieve. Officials from 192 countries and the EU will negotiate a new set of targets at Nagoya.