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STORY: UN / BIODIVERSITY
TRT: 1.57
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 22 MAY 2013, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK
FILE – RECENT, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK
1. Exterior shot, United Nations headquarters in New York
22 MAY 2013, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, dais in the press room
3. Med shot, journalist
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary for the Secretariat on the Convention on Biological Diversity:
“The biodiversity agenda is not just about a problem. Yes, we have a problem. We are losing biodiversity very fast. That will have consequences. Because we take it for granted. We depend on biodiversity for many, many things, and we are losing the capacity of the natural ecosystems to provide the goods and services we count on for our daily lives.”
5. Cutaway, journalist
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary for the Secretariat on the Convention on Biological Diversity:
“It’s very easy to say, for example, yes, we have to provide water for everyone. But how do we do it? How do we deliver such an objective? So the traditional way of doing things is to work in silos, isolated, so each of these agenda, food security, water, energy, poverty eradication, etc., have been dealt in somewhat isolated way.”
7. Cutaway, journalist
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary for the Secretariat on the Convention on Biological Diversity:
“In the past, when human populations were much smaller, the solution was to move on. So you destroy your natural resources in one area. And then you move on to another place where there is plenty of natural resources to exploit. Well, that solution is not available anymore. We are reaching the limits of the planet. That’s the reality. And societies have to learn this. That they have to change the way they utilize natural resources to fit within their capacity of planet Earth.”
9. Wide shot, dais in the press room
A senior environmental officer for the United Nations warned today (22 May) at a press conference in New York that the world is “losing biodiversity very fast” and had to learn to live within its own means.
Speaking on the International Day for Biological Diversity celebrated today, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary for the Secretariat on the Convention on Biological Diversity, said that this loss of biodiversity meant “losing the capacity of the natural ecosystems to provide the goods and services we count on for our daily lives.”
He stressed the importance of thinking in integrated and collaborative ways to effectively deliver sustainable solutions, and to not “work in silos” so that each component of sustainable development such as “food security, water, energy, poverty eradication” is “dealt in somewhat isolated way.” Biodiversity had to be part of these sustainable solutions.
He also pointed out that in order to maintain biodiversity, it was important to think beyond traditional engineered solutions, and to think about using what was available.
Dias gave as an example the actions taken by New York City to provide fresh water to its residents. Instead of building new facilities to treat water, New York City worked out an agreement to have the Catskills in upstate New York provide its water to the city, thus using what was available.
SOUNDBITE (English) Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary for the Secretariat on the Convention on Biological Diversity:
“In the past, when human populations were much smaller, the solution was to move on. So you destroy your natural resources in one area. And then you move on to another place where there is plenty of natural resources to exploit. Well, that solution is not available anymore. We are reaching the limits of the planet. That’s the reality. And societies have to learn this. That they have to change the way they utilize natural resources to fit within their capacity of planet Earth.”
This year’s theme for the day is “Water and Biodiversity,” which coincides with the UN designation of 2013 as International Year of Water Cooperation.
In December of 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted 22 May as the International Day for Biological Diversity.
