Wild Biodiversity: Definition, Issues and Europe’s Commitments
Biodiversity in the official texts
For several decades, conservation of species and habitats has been the subject of International Conventions. In 1971, the Ramsar Convention on the conservation of wetlands was signed. In 1979, 44 States (therefore practically all the States of Europe) signed the Bern Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats through cooperation between States. It came into effect in 1982.
The convention on ecological biodiversity of 5 June 1992 defines the term biodiversity as being the “variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”.
Despite these resolutions, biodiversity is still threatened.
