A Venture Capital Solution for Biodiversity Loss

At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, governments agreed to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), a legally binding international treaty that put forth three primary goals: 1) conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); 2) sustainable use of its components; and 3) fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

A key document in the drive toward global sustainable development, the CBD was established to ensure that national governments develop and enforce the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity. The treaty entered into force on December 29, 1993.

In 2002, at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (aka "Earth Summit 2002"), the commitment was strengthened when more than one hundred world leaders agreed to "achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity."[1]

GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY REPORT CARD: F-

Well, as the proverb goes, the road to failure is paved with good intentions.

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Reynard is a Justmeans staff writer for Sustainable Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility. A former media executive with 15 years experience in the private and non-profit sectors, Reynard is the co-founder of MomenTech, a New York-based experimental production studio that explores transnational progressivism, neo-nomadism, post-humanism and futurism. He is also author of the blog 13.7 Billion Years, covering cosmology, biodiversity, animal welfare, conservation and ethical consumption. He is currently developing the Underground Desert Living Unit (UDLU), a sustainable single-family dwelling envisioned as a potential adaptation response to the future loss of human habitat due to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Reynard is also a contributing author of "Biomes and Ecosystems," a comprehensive reference encyclopedia of the Earth's key biological and geographic classifications, to be published by Salem Press in 2013.