While the primary aim of ecologists is to understand the interactions among organisms and their environment, we also have to be concerned about practical applications in the conservation of ecosystems, the protection of biodiversity, the regulation of composition of the biomass, the management of natural renewable resources – both in space and in time.
The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 provide for the designation of at least 10% of coastal and offshore marine areas as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) worldwide by 2020.
The IPBES 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is the new global synthesis of the state of nature, ecosystems and nature's contributions to people since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published in 2005, and the first that is inter-governmental.
