CNN spotlights biodiversity

Starting on 25 August, all-news television broadcaster CNN International will turn its attention to biodiversity, beginning with the broadcast of a special edition of its monthly environmental programme Earth’s Frontiers, focusing on biodiversity.
(source: CBD/UNEP)

Direct from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, host Becky Anderson will moderate a debate between panellists Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, Paul Smith, Director of the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew Gardens and Jon Williams, Head of Biodiversity for PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The debate on Earth’s Frontiers will focus on the critical importance of maintaining our ecosystems and why individuals, big businesses and governments can no longer ignore the loss of biodiversity that threatens the future of our planet and our very existence.
The debate will air on CNN International on Wednesday, 25 August, at 9.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. British Summer Time (BST); on Saturday, 28 August, at 9.30 a.m., 3.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. BST; on Sunday 29 August at 6.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. BST; and on Monday 30 August at 4.30 a.m. BST.

Following the airing of this debate, for two weeks, CNN International’s week-day primetime show Connect the World will also feature an Earth’s Frontiers segment each day focusing on biodiversity. Connect the World will send reports from across the planet, delving deep into the Amazon, exploring fragile ecosystems, oil eating enzymes, biomimicry and other issues that highlight the pressing problem of biodiversity loss and possible solutions to the crisis of life on earth.

These programmes air in advance of a special high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on biodiversity that will take place on 22 September 2010 in New York. At this historic meeting, Heads of State and Government will meet to discuss the role of biodiversity in human development, in combating climate change, as well as a new vision to combat biodiversity loss for the next decades. It is also a contribution to the celebration of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.

Check out studies on wilderness and biodiversity: http://www.panparks.org/iyb