«Species diversity»

To many people, ‘biodiversity’ is almost synonymous with the word ‘nature,’ and ‘nature’ brings to mind steamy forests and the big creatures that dwell there. Fair enough. But biodiversity is much more than that, for it encompasses not only the diversity of species, but also the diversity within species.

Cary Fowler

Many people are helping to make the world a better place, but humanity as a whole is making it difficult for other living creatures that share our planet to survive.

Robert Alan Silverstein

Each species on our planet plays a role in the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems, on which humans depend.

William H. Schlesinger

Even if we act immediately, the world is doomed to lose many of its animal and plant species and this inturn will reduce the ability of ecosystems to deliver vital services to human populations. The Red List gives all of us a practical tool for raising awareness of the biodiversity crisis and for forging new partnerships within the international community.

Achim Steiner, IUCN Director General

Once species become extinct, no corrective legislation can bring them back — they are gone forever.

Allen M. Solomon

The effects of human activities on biodiversity have increased so greatly that the rate of species extinctions is rising to hundreds or thousands of times the background level.

United Nations Earth Watch (UNEP)

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

Chief Seattle

When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished.

Theodore Roosevelt