So say prominent biologists and ecologists in a paper to be published in the January 2001 issue of Trends in Ecology and Evolution, to mark the start of the International Biodiversity Observation Year, or IBOY for short. These and other scientists around the world have committed to making 2001 and 2002 breakthrough years in which to dramatically increase communication of their findings about the status of biodiversity and its links to human welfare. The IBOY is inspired by the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, in which scientists worked together across disciplinary and national boundaries to advance knowledge about the Earth, oceans and atmosphere.
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth.
It is most often measured as the number of species of plants, animals and microbes but can also be measured in terms of the enormous diversity of genes that make up these species or the variety of different ecosystems on the planet such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs. Diana Wall, biologist at Colorado State University, USA and Chair of the IBOY, emphasizes how little is known about biodiversity. Scientists have described about 1.75 million species but we estimate that there are over 12 million species still to be described. The international team of researchers behind IBOY believe that improving knowledge about biodiversity may be the greatest scientific and education challenge of the twenty-first century. New technologies such as molecular techniques that rapidly measure genetic diversity, satellites that monitor changes in forests and oceans, and the internet that allows global data-sharing, put the goal of understanding and conserving biodiversity within reach.