Biodiversity throughout the EU is declining. EU legislation aimed at protecting important terrestrial and maritime environments is in place, but has failed to halt this loss of biodiversity.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. Targets relating to biodiversity protection will this year be adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Make your voice heard - send the Maltese United Nations representative a letter asking that the targets adopted offer the highest possible protection to biodiversity.
The United Nations General Assembly can this year adopt targets offering biodiversity the highest possible protection - targets which could finally halt biodiversity loss. Photo by Adin Vella.
Please download this letter, insert your name at the end, and send it by email before the 31st August 2010 to:
Personal Secretary to Malta’s Head of State, President George Abela: richard.dimech@gov.mt
Malta’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the UN Mr Saviour Borg: malta-un.newyork@gov.mt
Please send a copy to BirdLife Malta: office@birdlifemalta.org
Letter to President George Abela and Malta’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the UN Mr Saviour F Borg
President George Abela
Office of The President
The Palace, Valletta
Malta
CC: Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the UN, Mr Saviour Borg
Dear President,
In 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, we face both ecological and economic crises.
While considerable progress has been made in protecting our finest wildlife sites on land, and recently in establishing new laws for conservation at sea, it is time to accept that we have failed to meet the target to halt the loss of biodiversity.
I am writing you as a conscious citizen of Malta and supporter of BirdLife Malta to ask you to take into consideration during the next High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly as a Contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity on September 2010, the health of our planet and to not allow Copenhagen to happen again.
The United Nations is a source of inspiration for the entire world. I would love to see the United Nations setting an example by adopting the highest targets for biodiversity protection and restoration. 2010 must be seen as the point where we stop the over-exploitation of the natural world and build a new efficient economy that allows us to live within our ecological means.
For the future we are in need of high ambitions and specific proposals to invest in our natural capital for the benefit of our society today, for the survival of future generations and for nature’s own sake.
My specific wishes to safeguard my and your future are:
a. To take action, both nationally and internationally, to stop climate chaos
b. To take action to ensure a comprehensive network of terrestrial and marine protected areas
c. To take action to ensure that future generations inherit a countryside rich in biodiversity by supporting sustainable farming and protecting forests
d. To take action to ensure that threatened species are not lost forever and that all species are adequately protected
e. To take action to ensure that Malta plays its part in saving tropical forests
f. To take action to create more opportunities for all young people to be inspired through nature
I do hope you will be a strong voice for Nature in the High-Level Meeting of the UN General Assembly in September 2010.
Yours sincerely,