Press release | 16 Sep, 2010

Biodiversity where it belongs at top of UN agenda

UN’s first ever high level event on biodiversity: September 22, New York, US

Photo: Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory & The Dolphin Institute

Photo: IUCN Photo Library © IUCN / Sue Mainka

Background

To mark the International Year of Biodiversity (www.iucn.org/iyb), the United Nations General Assembly is holding a high-level event on biodiversity on 22 September 2010, the eve of the opening of the general debate of its sixty-fifth session. This will be a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the global biodiversity crisis and the urgent need for stronger action to implement the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

IUCN, as the only international conservation organization with official UN observer status, will be taking a leading role in the events as they unfold.

Press Material and Events

• Press Statement on Mainstreaming Gender in the Biodiversity Debate, Mon 20 September
• Press Briefing and Press Statement on Cash Now to Save Life Tomorrow – 11h00-11h30 Tue 21 September, Press Briefing Room in Library Building at UN New York.
• Interview opportunity IUCN/CBD - Gender and Biodiversity - 13h00-15h00, Tue 21 September in the Delegates Dining Room.
• Interview Opportunity – Global Island Partnership – 07h45-08h45, Wed 22 September.

Spokespersons
• Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General IUCN, julia.marton-lefevre@iucn.org
• Jane Smart, Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group, jane.smart@iucn.org

To book interviews:
Brian Thomson, Media Relations Manager, m +41 79 528 3486, e brian.thomson@iucn.org