UN Secretary General calls for urgent halt to biodiversity loss. Speaking
on Friday, May 21 for the annual commemoration of the International Day
for Biodiversity, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned
that the current rates of flora and fauna loss are pushing ecosystems to
points beyond which they can no longer sustain life.
Among the
actions already recommended to reverse these declines is reducing
livestock raising, already recognized by the UN as a significant cause
of biodiversity loss.
The organization’s most recent 『Third Global
Biodiversity Outlook』 report goes on to suggest decreasing meat
consumption, also highlighting the need to remove subsidies and promote
market incentives that encourage healthier food options and use of
natural resources.
Secretary General Ban stated, 『Let us reflect
on the root causes of biodiversity decline and take action to arrest
it. Let us adjust policies and mindsets to reflect the true value of
species and habitats. Let us recognize that biodiversity is life — our
life. Let us act now to preserve it, before it is too late.』
Ban Ki-moon :
We need focused action. We know what we need to do. We know what
works. The time for delay is over. The time for delivery is now.
We
join in concern, Your Excellency, as we also laud the work of the
United Nations and all scientists working to raise awareness of our
critical global state. Let us heed the urgency of our time and turn to
the lifesaving plant-based lifestyle to restore the treasured life forms
of our world.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has often echoed the
imperative need for humanity to protect nature’s creations on Earth, as
during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong.
Supreme Master Ching Hai :
A lot of the ecological and environmental news today is not very good
due to the effects of global warming. We hear about glaciers melting,
water becoming more scarce, rising food shortages, rising food prices
with over one billion people going hungry every day, animals becoming
extinct and many species gone forever and so on and so forth.
But
even though our time is running out, we do still have time to save this
beautiful planet and restore it to its original splendor, or even more
so if all turn to the vegan diet.
As it has already been
mentioned, recent research shows that more than 50% of emissions which
heat up our planet, which put our lives in danger, which put our world
into the perilous situation of mass extinction, are from the livestock
industry.
The solution is at hand for each and every one of us,
which is simply to forego animal products and become vegan – one small
change; it’s no big deal.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2010/sgsm12889.doc.htm