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Rescue package needed to face loss of biodiversity, Ban Ki-moon says

A rescue package similar to that introduced after the global financial crisis is urgently needed to halt the worldwide loss of biodiversity, which is resulting in a heavy human cost, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed talking at a high level UN meeting on Wednesday. “We are bankrupting our natural economy,” he told a high-level General Assembly event on biodiversity, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York. According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), ecosystems – and the biodiversity that underpins them – generate services worth trillions of dollars, supporting livelihoods around the world. Characterizing ecosystems as “our natural capital,” Mr. Ban stressed that a loss of biodiversity can lead to the failure of crops, a drop in profits, a deepening of poverty and economic decline. “Allowing [our natural infrastructure] to decline is like throwing money out of the window,” he said. According to the UN, the world will not meet the 2010 target to slow the decline i