It took this action due to “the continued biodiversity loss – estimated as high as 100 times the natural rate of extinction as a result of human activities, and expected to rise further as a result of climate change impacts”.

The slogan is “Biodi-versity is life. Biodiversity is our life”.

The main message is “biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, is essential to sustaining the living net-works and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and the vital services our lives depend on.”

“It is important for human well-being and as well as preserving the quality of the environment.”

And this message is illustrated through the logo that is an intertwining representation of flora and fauna with human figures.

It is described as demon-strating “how biodiversity is life and how humans are forever part of, and not separate from the biodive-rsity that surrounds them”.

For the next two weeks, The Star will look at the general concept of biodiversity before delving into the local level.

The following is a combination of extracts from Biodiversity is life: educational manual by World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

It was put together to help better explain the concept of biodiversity.

So, what is biodiversity?

Biodiversity is short for biological diversity.

It refers to the multitude of life that shares the planet with us.

We are as much part of biodiversity as a tortoise, tiger, toad, taiga, toadstool or tree.

We are not separate from nature.

Biodiversity can be considered at three levels of organisation:

>> Species level. About 1.8 million species of animals, plants, fungi, algae and microbes have been described and named, no one knows how many species inhabit Earth – estimates vary from five to 100 million.

>> Ecosystem level – the world’s species interact and depend in each other in complex webs of life based in energy flow through proce-sses of eating and avoiding being eaten. Ecosystems vary from polar zones to rich forests of the wet tropics.

>> Genetic level – genes are conduits of DNA. DNA is the inheritable unit that makes variation possible between individuals, communities and species.

Go to www.cbd.int/2010 to find the full publication.

>> Next week The Star will look at where biodiversity is and how we interact with biodiversity before looking at biodiversity locally.