Biodiversity is the basis of life on Earth and one of the pillars of sustainable development. It is the richness and diversity of life on Earth that make possible the services that ecosystems provide us with: clean water, food, shelter, medicine and clothing. "

From   the Secretary-General's message on the occasion of the  International Day for Biological Diversity

The General Assembly, by its resolution  61/203  , declared  2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity designated a focal point for the International Year of Biodiversity and invited the Secretariat to collaborate with United Nations bodies, multilateral environmental agreements, other relevant international organizations and other stakeholders, with a view to mobilizing greater international attention to the issue of continuing biodiversity loss