C6n SEA practice and biodiversity Jo Treweek, SES, UK Helen
Byron, Imperial College London, UK Dave le Maitre, CSIR
Environmentek, South Africa Key issues to be addressed
Biodiversity supports many livelihoods and provides essential
goods and services to millions of people. However, its values
are often under-emphasised in development planning. The first
World Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro
(1992) emphasised the importance of biodiversity as the basis of
our very existence, to be used wisely and sustainably and
conserved for current and future generations. The main threats
to biodiversity globally are associated with human activities
causing habitat loss or damage. These threats need to be
carefully managed if significant, irreversible losses of
biodiversity are to be avoided. The Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) requires Parties to integrate as far as possible
and as appropriate the conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity into relevant sectoral or cross-secto