A new technical report from the Central American Commission on Environment and Development finds that the region has lost 52% of its original biodiversity and is projected to lose up to 58% by 2030.
The report attributes most of the loss to land-use changes.
6 April 2011: A new technical report finds that Central America has lost 52% of its original biodiversity and is projected to lose up to 58% by 2030. The report attributes most of the loss to land-use changes.
The “Technical Report on the Current and Future Status of Biodiversity in Central America” was produced by the Central American Commission on Environment and Development’s (CCAD) Biodiversity Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (PROMEBIO) and the Regional Biodiversity Institute (IRBIO), in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Zamora University, Honduras, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), and with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The report was developed in consultation with experts from the eight member countries (Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama) of the Central American Integration System (SICA), using modeling based on the GLOBIO-CLUE methodology.
The report provides: assessments by country, regional baseline information, projection of trends through 2030 and detailed information on protected areas in seven of the eight countries. The report’s stated goal is to provide countries with better data to aid decision-making regarding the protection, conservation and use of the region’s biodiversity. [CCAD Press Release] [Publication: Technical Report on the Current and Future Status of Biodiversity in Central America]