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103-522: Since 2002, the fund has provided more than $ 910 million in projects around the world. According to the OECD , the Arcadia Fund's financing for 2019 development increased by 6% to US$ 55 million. The foundation is controlled by its three trustees ( Lisbet Rausing , Peter Baldwin and Johannes Burger) and its team of nine members. The fund also has an advisory board of seven members. Since its inception,

206-453: A median age of 40, against a global average of 30. As of 2017 , OECD Member countries collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP ( USD 49.6 trillion) and 42.8% of global GDP ( Int$ 54.2 trillion) at purchasing power parity . The OECD is an official United Nations observer . OECD nations have strong social security systems ; their average social welfare spending stood at roughly 21% of GDP. The OECD's headquarters are at

309-713: A $ 5 million grant to the Mvule Trust to provide bursaries to young women in Uganda so they can go to secondary school. The grant and trust gave 75% of scholarships to girls and by 2007 and the trust had supported the education of 1,868 children. Arcadia has provided a total of $ 6 million in 2005–2006 to the Human Rights Watch (US) to help their empirical research into persecution of women, and its fact gathering, press releases, advocacy and lobbying. The following table breaks down Arcadia's largest grants and provides

412-639: A $ 511,200 to the Smithsonian Campaign, 'The Field Book Project', to preserve field books, the original records of scientific expeditions. The grant aimed to support the digitising of 2600 field books, all which will be open access. Currently, the project has catalogued over 9,500 field books and digitised over 4,000. The fund in 2018 donated £23 million (US$ 31,441,100) to the Cambridge Conservative Initiative (CCI) for its Endangered Landscapes Programme (ELP). Through

515-501: A country, endangered species are initially supported on a national level then internationally. Ecotourism may be utilized to support the economy and encourages tourists to continue to visit and support species and ecosystems they visit, while they enjoy the available amenities provided. International biodiversity impacts global livelihood, food systems, and health. Problematic pollution, over consumption, and climate change can devastate international biodiversity. Nature-based solutions are

618-517: A critical tool for a global resolution. Many species are in danger of becoming extinct and need world leaders to be proactive with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework . Terrestrial biodiversity is thought to be up to 25 times greater than ocean biodiversity. Forests harbour most of Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. The conservation of the world's biodiversity is thus utterly dependent on

721-439: A description of the purpose of the grant. OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ; French : Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, OCDE ) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade . It is a forum whose member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and

824-705: A discussion on a broad spectrum of thematic issues relevant to the OECD charter, member countries, and non-member countries. Noteworthy meetings include: Exchanges between OECD governments benefit from the information, analysis, and preparation of the OECD Secretariat. The secretariat collects data, monitors trends, and analyses and forecasts economic developments. Under the direction and guidance of member governments, it also researches social changes or evolving patterns in trade, environment, education, agriculture, technology, taxation and other areas. The secretariat

927-455: A first-order positive feedback (more ancestors, more descendants) and/or a negative feedback arising from resource limitation. Hyperbolic model implies a second-order positive feedback. Differences in the strength of the second-order feedback due to different intensities of interspecific competition might explain the faster rediversification of ammonoids in comparison to bivalves after the end-Permian extinction . The hyperbolic pattern of

1030-460: A limit would also cap the number of species. While records of life in the sea show a logistic pattern of growth, life on land (insects, plants and tetrapods) shows an exponential rise in diversity. As one author states, "Tetrapods have not yet invaded 64 percent of potentially habitable modes and it could be that without human influence the ecological and taxonomic diversity of tetrapods would continue to increase exponentially until most or all of

1133-621: A multilateral basis. In 1958, a European Nuclear Energy Agency was set up in response to Euratom. By this time, some leading countries felt that the OEEC had outlived its purpose but could be adapted to fulfil a more global mission, which proved to be a cumbersome task. Following several (occasionally unruly) meetings at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, which began in January 1960, a resolution

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1236-542: A process of enhanced engagement. Chile, Slovenia, Israel, and Estonia all became members in 2010. In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks with Russia in response to its role in the 2014 Annexation of Crimea . In 2013, the OECD decided to open membership talks with Colombia and Latvia . In 2015, the Organisation opened talks with Costa Rica and Lithuania . Latvia became a member on 1 July 2016, and Lithuania soon followed on 5 July 2018. Colombia signed

1339-566: A rapid growth in biodiversity via the Cambrian explosion . In this period, the majority of multicellular phyla first appeared. The next 400 million years included repeated, massive biodiversity losses. Those events have been classified as mass extinction events. In the Carboniferous , rainforest collapse may have led to a great loss of plant and animal life. The Permian–Triassic extinction event , 251 million years ago,

1442-590: A third of the Earth's land mass) and are home to approximately 80% of the world's biodiversity. About 1 billion hectares are covered by primary forests. Over 700 million hectares of the world's woods are officially protected. The biodiversity of forests varies considerably according to factors such as forest type, geography, climate and soils – in addition to human use. Most forest habitats in temperate regions support relatively few animal and plant species and species that tend to have large geographical distributions, while

1545-784: A working group headed by ambassador Seiichiro Noboru to work out a plan for the enlargement with non-members. The working group defined four criteria that must be fulfilled: "like-mindedness", "significant player", "mutual benefit" and "global considerations." The working group's recommendations were presented at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on 13 May 2004, and on 16 May 2007, the OECD Ministerial Council decided to open accession discussions with Chile , Estonia , Israel , Russia , and Slovenia , and to strengthen cooperation with Brazil , China , India , Indonesia , and South Africa through

1648-405: Is an increase in biodiversity from the poles to the tropics . Thus localities at lower latitudes have more species than localities at higher latitudes . This is often referred to as the latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Several ecological factors may contribute to the gradient, but the ultimate factor behind many of them is the greater mean temperature at the equator compared to that at

1751-475: Is decreasing today. Climate change also plays a role. This can be seen for example in the effects of climate change on biomes . This anthropogenic extinction may have started toward the end of the Pleistocene , as some studies suggest that the megafaunal extinction event that took place around the end of the last ice age partly resulted from overhunting. Biologists most often define biodiversity as

1854-491: Is estimated at 5.0 x 10 and weighs 50 billion tonnes . In comparison, the total mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as four trillion tons of carbon . In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all organisms living on Earth. The age of Earth is about 4.54 billion years. The earliest undisputed evidence of life dates at least from 3.7 billion years ago, during

1957-427: Is local biodiversity, which directly impacts daily life, affecting the availability of fresh water, food choices, and fuel sources for humans. Regional biodiversity includes habitats and ecosystems that synergizes and either overlaps or differs on a regional scale. National biodiversity within a country determines the ability for a country to thrive according to its habitats and ecosystems on a national scale. Also, within

2060-691: Is organised in directorates: The head of the OECD Secretariat and chair of the OECD Council is the Secretary-General. Secretary-General selections are made by consensus , meaning all member states must agree on a candidate. Representatives of member and observer countries meet in specialised committees on specific policy areas, such as economics, trade, science, employment, education, development assistance or financial markets. There are about 200 committees, working groups and expert groups. Committees discuss policies and review progress in

2163-401: Is possible to build fractal hyper volumes, whose fractal dimension rises to three moving towards the equator . A biodiversity hotspot is a region with a high level of endemic species that have experienced great habitat loss . The term hotspot was introduced in 1988 by Norman Myers . While hotspots are spread all over the world, the majority are forest areas and most are located in

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2266-561: Is so full, that that district produces the most variety which is the most examined." Biodiversity is the result of 3.5 billion years of evolution . The origin of life has not been established by science, however, some evidence suggests that life may already have been well-established only a few hundred million years after the formation of the Earth . Until approximately 2.5 billion years ago, all life consisted of microorganisms – archaea , bacteria , and single-celled protozoans and protists . Biodiversity grew fast during

2369-405: Is uncertainty as to how strongly the fossil record is biased by the greater availability and preservation of recent geologic sections. Some scientists believe that corrected for sampling artifacts, modern biodiversity may not be much different from biodiversity 300 million years ago, whereas others consider the fossil record reasonably reflective of the diversification of life. Estimates of

2472-590: The Château de la Muette in Paris , France, which housed its predecessor organization, the Organization for European Economic Co-operation. The OECD is funded by contributions from member countries at varying rates and is recognised as a highly influential publisher of mostly economic data through publications as well as annual evaluations and rankings of member countries. The OECD is the successor organization to

2575-792: The Eoarchean era after a geological crust started to solidify following the earlier molten Hadean eon. There are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia . Other early physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland .. More recently, in 2015, "remains of biotic life " were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia . According to one of

2678-454: The Hall of Graduate Studies , enabling the university to co-locate the dispersed humanities departments under one roof to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration. Baldwin and Rausing have asked that the building should be named after in tribute to the service of David Swensen (who built Yale's endowment from $ 1.3 billion to $ 23.9 billion) in tribute to his service. Arcadia gave £5 million to

2781-754: The Illuminated River Foundation in 2017 for a commissioned art installation of light to 15 of Central London's bridges along the River Thames. When the project is completed, it would be the longest piece of commissioned art in the world at 2.5 miles long. Before 2009 the Arcadia Find was involved in supporting human rights. It supported organisations that helped refugee scholars, educated disadvantaged children in Africa, and conducted women's rights advocacy. In 2005, Arcadia provided

2884-713: The Phanerozoic (the last 540 million years), especially during the so-called Cambrian explosion —a period during which nearly every phylum of multicellular organisms first appeared. However, recent studies suggest that this diversification had started earlier, at least in the Ediacaran , and that it continued in the Ordovician . Over the next 400 million years or so, invertebrate diversity showed little overall trend and vertebrate diversity shows an overall exponential trend. This dramatic rise in diversity

2987-461: The Stone Age , species loss has accelerated above the average basal rate, driven by human activity. Estimates of species losses are at a rate 100–10,000 times as fast as is typical in the fossil record. Loss of biodiversity results in the loss of natural capital that supplies ecosystem goods and services . Species today are being wiped out at a rate 100 to 1,000 times higher than baseline, and

3090-439: The equator . Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than one-fifth of Earth's terrestrial area and contain about 50% of the world's species. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity for both marine and terrestrial taxa. Since life began on Earth , six major mass extinctions and several minor events have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity. The Phanerozoic aeon (the last 540 million years) marked

3193-465: The market economy , providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members. The majority of OECD members are generally regarded as developed countries , with high-income economies , and a very high Human Development Index . As of 2024 their collective population is 1.38 billion people with an average life expectancy of 80 years and

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3296-504: The tropics . Brazil 's Atlantic Forest is considered one such hotspot, containing roughly 20,000 plant species, 1,350 vertebrates and millions of insects, about half of which occur nowhere else. The island of Madagascar and India are also particularly notable. Colombia is characterized by high biodiversity, with the highest rate of species by area unit worldwide and it has the largest number of endemics (species that are not found naturally anywhere else) of any country. About 10% of

3399-417: The world population growth arises from a second-order positive feedback between the population size and the rate of technological growth. The hyperbolic character of biodiversity growth can be similarly accounted for by a feedback between diversity and community structure complexity. The similarity between the curves of biodiversity and human population probably comes from the fact that both are derived from

3502-752: The "totality of genes , species and ecosystems of a region". An advantage of this definition is that it presents a unified view of the traditional types of biological variety previously identified: Biodiversity is most commonly used to replace the more clearly-defined and long-established terms, species diversity and species richness . However, there is no concrete definition for biodiversity, as its definition continues to be defined. Other definitions include (in chronological order): According to estimates by Mora et al. (2011), there are approximately 8.7 million terrestrial species and 2.2 million oceanic species. The authors note that these estimates are strongest for eukaryotic organisms and likely represent

3605-716: The 1960s to the end of the 1990s was also described in the memoirs titled “the Bank of Japan and the OECD: Recollections and Reflections”, written in Japanese by Kumiharu Shigehara and published in December 2019. In his letter of 5 February 2019, Donald Johnston, OECD Secretary-General (1996-2006), noted that Shigehara's "book is very important for the OECD where there is little living institutional memory". The English edition of Shigehara's memoirs titled The Bank of Japan,

3708-578: The 1990s, several European countries, now members of the European Union, expressed their willingness to join the Organisation. In 1995, Cyprus applied for membership, but according to the Cypriot government, it was vetoed by Turkey . In 1996, Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become members of the OECD, and Slovenia also applied for membership that same year. In 2005, Malta applied to join

3811-678: The Centre for Cooperation with Non-Members) was established, and in 1991, the programme, "Partners in Transition", was launched to offer a partnership to Czechoslovakia , Hungary and Poland, including a membership option for these countries. As a result of this, Poland , Hungary , the Czech Republic and Slovakia , as well as South Korea and Mexico , became members of the OECD between 1996 and 2000. East Germany joined on 3 October 1990 through reunification with West Germany. In

3914-617: The Declaration. The OECD publishes books, reports, statistics, working papers, and reference materials. All titles and databases published since 1998 can be accessed via OECD iLibrary . The OECD Library & Archives collection dates from 1947, including records from the Committee for European Economic Co-operation (CEEC) and the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), predecessors of today's OECD. External researchers can consult OECD publications and archival material on

4017-635: The ELP, the CCI and 9 other conservation organisations aimed to restore priority landscape across Europe in an attempt to support viable populations of native species, provide room for natural ecological processes, and improve resilience of ecosystems to short or long term changes. The fund in 2018 awarded Fauna & Flora International $ USD 27,000,000 for the Halcyon Land & Sea Fund. The partnership started in 1998 where Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing developed

4120-507: The G20. It is not certain when the proposals will be implemented. All the major economies agreed to pass national laws that would require corporations to pay at least 15% income tax in the countries they operate. This new policy would end the practice of locating world headquarters in small countries with very low taxation rates. Governments hope to recoup some of the lost revenue, estimated at $ 100 billion to $ 240 billion each year. The new system

4223-606: The IUCN's critically endangered . Numerous scientists and the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services assert that human population growth and overconsumption are the primary factors in this decline. However, other scientists have criticized this finding and say that loss of habitat caused by "the growth of commodities for export" is the main driver. Some studies have however pointed out that habitat destruction for

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4326-549: The OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations, a Model Tax Convention and country-by-country reporting rules. The OECD publishes and updates a model tax convention that serves as a template for allocating taxation rights between countries. This model is accompanied by a set of commentaries that reflect OECD-level interpretation of the content of the model convention provisions. In general, this model allocates

4429-476: The OECD announced that it "has transitioned to [an] open-access information model" and that Creative Commons CC‑BY‑4.0 attribution licenses will be used on all data and publications. There are 15 working papers series published by the various directorates of the OECD Secretariat. They are available on iLibrary, as well as on many specialised portals. The OECD is responsible for the OECD Guidelines for

4532-765: The OECD are stated in Article 1 of the Convention as: Unlike the United Nations' "Organizations," OECD uses the spelling "Organisation" with an "s" in its name, together with a hyphenated "Co-operation". Following the Revolutions of 1989 , the OECD began assisting countries in and Eastern Europe (especially the Visegrád Group ) to prepare market economy reforms. In 1990, the Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition (now succeeded by

4635-473: The OECD premises by appointment. The OECD releases about 600 books and over 400 papers yearly on topics spanning public policy. The publications are updated to the OECD iLibrary. Most books are published in English and French. The OECD flagship titles include: All OECD books are available on the OECD iLibrary, the online bookshop or OECD Library & Archives. OECD Observer , an award-winning magazine,

4738-579: The OECD suspended the participation of Russia and Belarus due to the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . In June 2022, during the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD Convention for Brazil , Bulgaria , Croatia , Peru and Romania were adopted. The OECD sets the rules governing international taxation for multinationals through

4841-579: The OECD, and Beyond was published by Palgrave Macmillan in September 2024. The OECD is known as a statistical agency , as it publishes comparable statistics on numerous subjects. In July 2014, the OECD publicly released its main statistical databases through the OECD Data Portal, an online platform that allows visitors to create custom charts based on official OECD indicators. OECD statistics are available in several forms: In July 2024,

4944-499: The OECD: Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life on Earth . It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability , species diversity , ecosystem diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distributed evenly on Earth . It is greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near

5047-589: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was signed on 14 December 1960, and the OECD officially superseded the OEEC in September 1961, consisting of the European founder countries of the OEEC, with the additions of the United States and Canada. Three countries, (Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy)—all OEEC members—ratified the OECD Convention after September 1961, but are nevertheless considered founding members. The official founding members are

5150-553: The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) , established in April 1948 among the European recipients of Marshall Plan aid for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II . Only Western European states were members of the OEEC, whose primary function was the allocation of American aid. Its Secretaries-General were the Frenchmen Robert Marjolin (1948–1955) and René Sergent (1955–1960). It

5253-425: The Organisation. The EU is lobbying for the admission of all EU member states . Romania reaffirmed in 2012 its intention to become a member of the Organisation through the letter addressed by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to OECD Secretary-General José Ángel Gurría . In September 2012, the government of Bulgaria confirmed it would apply for membership before the OECD Secretariat. The OECD established

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5356-628: The Testing of Chemicals , a continuously updated document that is a de facto standard (i.e., soft law). It published the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030 in March 2008, which argues that tackling key environmental problems—including climate change , biodiversity loss , water scarcity , and the health impacts of pollution —is both achievable and affordable. In 2020, the inaugural University Press Redux Sustainability Award

5459-511: The accession agreement on 30 May 2018 and became a member on 28 April 2020. On 15 May 2020, the OECD decided to extend a formal invitation for Costa Rica to join the OECD, which joined as a member on 25 May 2021. Other countries that have expressed interest in OECD membership are Argentina , Brazil , Croatia , Malaysia and Peru . In January 2022, the OECD reported that membership talks were underway with Argentina , Brazil , Bulgaria , Croatia , Peru and Romania . In March 2022,

5562-461: The available eco-space is filled." It also appears that the diversity continues to increase over time, especially after mass extinctions. On the other hand, changes through the Phanerozoic correlate much better with the hyperbolic model (widely used in population biology , demography and macrosociology , as well as fossil biodiversity) than with exponential and logistic models. The latter models imply that changes in diversity are guided by

5665-435: The cost borne by the member countries, such as sending their officials to OECD meetings and maintaining permanent delegations, is equivalent to the cost of running the secretariat. This ratio is unique among inter-governmental organisations. In other words, the OECD is more a persistent forum or network of officials and experts than an administration. The OECD regularly holds minister-level meetings and forums as platforms for

5768-540: The current sixth mass extinction match or exceed rates of loss in the five previous mass extinction events in the fossil record . Biodiversity loss is in fact "one of the most critical manifestations of the Anthropocene " (since around the 1950s); the continued decline of biodiversity constitutes "an unprecedented threat" to the continued existence of human civilization. The reduction is caused primarily by human impacts , particularly habitat destruction . Since

5871-704: The ecological resources of low-income countries, which was explained as a result of a process whereby wealthy nations are outsourcing resource depletion to poorer nations, which are suffering the greatest ecosystem losses. A 2017 study published in PLOS One found that the biomass of insect life in Germany had declined by three-quarters in the last 25 years. Dave Goulson of Sussex University stated that their study suggested that humans "appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. If we lose

5974-512: The end of the Maastrichtian , just before that extinction event. However, many other taxa were affected by this crisis, which affected even marine taxa, such as ammonites , which also became extinct around that time. The biodiversity of the past is called Paleobiodiversity. The fossil record suggests that the last few million years featured the greatest biodiversity in history . However, not all scientists support this view, since there

6077-451: The estimated global value of ecosystem services (not captured in traditional markets) at an average of $ 33 trillion annually. With regards to provisioning services, greater species diversity has the following benefits: With regards to regulating services, greater species diversity has the following benefits: Greater species diversity Agricultural diversity can be divided into two categories: intraspecific diversity , which includes

6180-428: The expansion of agriculture and the overexploitation of wildlife are the more significant drivers of contemporary biodiversity loss, not climate change . Biodiversity is not evenly distributed, rather it varies greatly across the globe as well as within regions and seasons. Among other factors, the diversity of all living things ( biota ) depends on temperature , precipitation , altitude , soils , geography and

6283-562: The first time in Kumiharu Shigehara, “Multilateral Surveillance: What the OECD can offer?” (the 1996 Global Finance Lecture, the University of Birmingham, 1996; OECD publication, Paris, 1996) at a time when Shigehara was OECD Chief Economist and Head of Economics Department (1992–1997); he was subsequently OECD Deputy Secretary-General (1997–1999). It was also discussed in: The history of OECD multilateral surveillance from

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6386-552: The following: Japan became a member in 1964, and over the following decade, Finland , Australia , and New Zealand also joined the organisation. Yugoslavia had observer status in the organisation, starting with the establishment of the OECD, until its dissolution as a country . The OECD also created agencies such as the OECD Development Centre (1961), International Energy Agency (IEA, 1974), and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering . The aims of

6489-520: The fund also supported causes such as human rights, philanthropy and education; however, the support for these causes have been discontinued since 2009. Before this support was discontinued, the fund supported organizations that helped refugee scholars, educated disadvantaged children in Africa, and conducted women's right advocacy. The fund awards grants to organisations preserving endangered culture, preserving nature, and promoting open access. Arcadia's largest grant, totalling £20 million (US$ 33,851,813),

6592-651: The fund founded the Endangered Archives Program at the British Library with a $ 25 million grant supporting the digitisation of at risk collections around the world. By September 2018, the program has supported more than 350 documentation programs in 90 countries, preserving over 6.5 million images and 25,000 sound tracks. The material is available freely online as part of the Endangered Archives Programme . In 2018,

6695-630: The fund gave an additional £9 million to fund the program for a further 7 years. In 2013 and 2015 provide $ 1 million to the Smithsonian Institution 's collaboration with the Natural History Museum 's 'Recovering Voices Initiative', a long-term project to digitise audio recordings, manuscripts and photographs. It aims to digitise the entire collection of ethnographic sound recordings, estimated at 3,000 hours, and 35,000 pages of manuscript materials. In 2015 it provided

6798-461: The fund has averaged yearly grant awards of $ 35,625,000. Its grants are divided into five categories: Cultural, Environmental, Open Access, Discretionary and Discontinued Themes. As seen by the Table 41% of grant funding is cultural, 37% Environmental, 6% Open Access, 8% Discretionary and 7% Legacy. Its supported causes have been-as mentioned earlier-the preservation of endangered culture and nature and

6901-491: The genetic variation within a single species, like the potato ( Solanum tuberosum ) that is composed of many different forms and types (e.g. in the U.S. they might compare russet potatoes with new potatoes or purple potatoes, all different, but all part of the same species, S. tuberosum ). The other category of agricultural diversity is called interspecific diversity and refers to the number and types of different species. Agricultural diversity can also be divided by whether it

7004-429: The given policy area. OECD has a number of specialised bodies: OECD decisions are made through voting, which requires unanimity among all of those voting. Each member country has one vote. However, dissenting members which do not wish to block a decision but merely to signal their disapproval can abstain from voting. 22 of the OECD member countries are also EU member states. As of May 2021 there are 38 members of

7107-589: The idea in conjunction with FFI to develop the Halcyon Fund in which secures highly threatened sites to protect them under local management. As of 2018, the Fund has supported 46 projects in 25 countries, protecting 55.8 million hectares of habitat. Since 2011, Arcadia has provided support in which has supported 34 initiatives across 18 countries. Currently, Arcadia's total funding to FFI is $ USD 51,550,000 million. In 2015, Arcadia ordered an independent expert review of

7210-587: The insects then everything is going to collapse." In 2020 the World Wildlife Foundation published a report saying that "biodiversity is being destroyed at a rate unprecedented in human history". The report claims that 68% of the population of the examined species were destroyed in the years 1970 – 2016. Of 70,000 monitored species, around 48% are experiencing population declines from human activity (in 2023), whereas only 3% have increasing populations. Rates of decline in biodiversity in

7313-596: The interactions between other species. The study of the spatial distribution of organisms , species and ecosystems , is the science of biogeography . Diversity consistently measures higher in the tropics and in other localized regions such as the Cape Floristic Region and lower in polar regions generally. Rain forests that have had wet climates for a long time, such as Yasuní National Park in Ecuador , have particularly high biodiversity. There

7416-737: The interference of the hyperbolic trend with cyclical and stochastic dynamics. Most biologists agree however that the period since human emergence is part of a new mass extinction, named the Holocene extinction event , caused primarily by the impact humans are having on the environment. It has been argued that the present rate of extinction is sufficient to eliminate most species on the planet Earth within 100 years. New species are regularly discovered (on average between 5–10,000 new species each year, most of them insects ) and many, though discovered, are not yet classified (estimates are that nearly 90% of all arthropods are not yet classified). Most of

7519-430: The lower bound of prokaryote diversity. Other estimates include: Since the rate of extinction has increased, many extant species may become extinct before they are described. Not surprisingly, in the animalia the most studied groups are birds and mammals , whereas fishes and arthropods are the least studied animals groups. During the last century, decreases in biodiversity have been increasingly observed. It

7622-877: The montane forests of Africa, South America and Southeast Asia and lowland forests of Australia, coastal Brazil, the Caribbean islands, Central America and insular Southeast Asia have many species with small geographical distributions. Areas with dense human populations and intense agricultural land use, such as Europe , parts of Bangladesh, China, India and North America, are less intact in terms of their biodiversity. Northern Africa, southern Australia, coastal Brazil, Madagascar and South Africa, are also identified as areas with striking losses in biodiversity intactness. European forests in EU and non-EU nations comprise more than 30% of Europe's land mass (around 227 million hectares), representing an almost 10% growth since 1990. Generally, there

7725-562: The other (such as between OECD and non-OECD pairings). Additionally, the OECD has published and updated the Transfer Pricing Guidelines since 1995. The Transfer Pricing Guidelines serve as a template for the profit allocation of inter-company transactions to countries. The latest version, of July 2017, incorporates the approved Actions developed under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project initiated by

7828-468: The planet's species went extinct prior to the evolution of humans. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86% have not yet been described. However, a May 2016 scientific report estimates that 1 trillion species are currently on Earth, with only one-thousandth of one percent described. The total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth

7931-546: The poles. Even though terrestrial biodiversity declines from the equator to the poles, some studies claim that this characteristic is unverified in aquatic ecosystems , especially in marine ecosystems . The latitudinal distribution of parasites does not appear to follow this rule. Also, in terrestrial ecosystems the soil bacterial diversity has been shown to be highest in temperate climatic zones, and has been attributed to carbon inputs and habitat connectivity. In 2016, an alternative hypothesis ("the fractal biodiversity")

8034-412: The present global macroscopic species diversity vary from 2 million to 100 million, with a best estimate of somewhere near 9 million, the vast majority arthropods . Diversity appears to increase continually in the absence of natural selection. The existence of a global carrying capacity , limiting the amount of life that can live at once, is debated, as is the question of whether such

8137-423: The primary right to tax to the country from which capital investment originates (i.e., the home, or resident country) rather than the country in which the investment is made (the host, or source country). As a result, it is most effective between two countries with reciprocal investment flows (such as among the OECD member countries), but can be unbalanced when one of the signatory countries is economically weaker than

8240-724: The provision of open access. The fund has a selected issues criterion which the organization uses to choose grants. The methodology of grant choices has not changed since 2002. However, supported causes have altered slightly. The organization aims to provide cultural grants to universities, archives or museums that preserve cultural heritage and digitize near-extinct cultural heritage. Additionally, it intends to supply environmental grants to organizations that preserve endangered habitats at risk land as well as trains staff and enable research and policy development. It also aims to provide open access grants to increase obtention of free material such online as research papers and publications. Previously,

8343-584: The rate of extinctions is increasing. This process destroys the resilience and adaptability of life on Earth. In 2006, many species were formally classified as rare or endangered or threatened ; moreover, scientists have estimated that millions more species are at risk which have not been formally recognized. About 40 percent of the 40,177 species assessed using the IUCN Red List criteria are now listed as threatened with extinction —a total of 16,119. As of late 2022 9251 species were considered part of

8446-913: The researchers, "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth...then it could be common in the universe ." There have been many claims about biodiversity's effect on the ecosystem services , especially provisioning and regulating services . Some of those claims have been validated, some are incorrect and some lack enough evidence to draw definitive conclusions. Ecosystem services have been grouped in three types: Experiments with controlled environments have shown that humans cannot easily build ecosystems to support human needs; for example insect pollination cannot be mimicked, though there have been attempts to create artificial pollinators using unmanned aerial vehicles . The economic activity of pollination alone represented between $ 2.1–14.6 billion in 2003. Other sources have reported somewhat conflicting results and in 1997 Robert Costanza and his colleagues reported

8549-693: The species of the Earth can be found in Colombia, including over 1,900 species of bird, more than in Europe and North America combined, Colombia has 10% of the world's mammals species, 14% of the amphibian species and 18% of the bird species of the world. Madagascar dry deciduous forests and lowland rainforests possess a high ratio of endemism . Since the island separated from mainland Africa 66 million years ago, many species and ecosystems have evolved independently. Indonesia 's 17,000 islands cover 735,355 square miles (1,904,560 km ) and contain 10% of

8652-419: The terrestrial diversity is found in tropical forests and in general, the land has more species than the ocean; some 8.7 million species may exist on Earth, of which some 2.1 million live in the ocean. It is estimated that 5 to 50 billion species have existed on the planet. Assuming that there may be a maximum of about 50 million species currently alive, it stands to reason that greater than 99% of

8755-531: The university in 2011 with an additional $ 11 million grant. In September 2015, the fund provided $ 450,000 over three years to Creative Commons to develop tools that complement current CC licence suite. In September 2017, Arcadia donated $ 5 million to the Wikimedia Foundation , the largest contribution to the foundation at the time. It gave another $ 3.5 million in 2019. The Arcadia Fund in 2015 provided $ 25 million to Yale University to renovate

8858-489: The university. In 2009 it awarded $ 5 million over a 5-year period. The grant will support the processing of 17th and 18th century collections in archives and underwrite conservation treatments to fragile or damaged 17th or 18th century collections. It will also help to catalogue and digitise documents on Harvard's history, and to run the Library Lab programme to improve digital services. The fund provided further support to

8961-479: The upcoming years. As of 2012, some studies suggest that 25% of all mammal species could be extinct in 20 years. In absolute terms, the planet has lost 58% of its biodiversity since 1970 according to a 2016 study by the World Wildlife Fund. The Living Planet Report 2014 claims that "the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish across the globe is, on average, about half the size it

9064-773: The way in which we interact with and use the world's forests. A new method used in 2011, put the total number of species on Earth at 8.7 million, of which 2.1 million were estimated to live in the ocean. However, this estimate seems to under-represent the diversity of microorganisms. Forests provide habitats for 80 percent of amphibian species , 75 percent of bird species and 68 percent of mammal species. About 60 percent of all vascular plants are found in tropical forests. Mangroves provide breeding grounds and nurseries for numerous species of fish and shellfish and help trap sediments that might otherwise adversely affect seagrass beds and coral reefs, which are habitats for many more marine species. Forests span around 4 billion acres (nearly

9167-703: The work it had funded through FFI. The review concluded that "The report clearly recognises the invaluable role that Arcadia has played in helping FFI evolve into the organisation it is today, by providing long-term and flexible funding for a considerable and effective body of work." Their first grant in 2011 helped develop the Halcyon Marine Programme, which operates across 72 sites in 17 countries, engaging 88 partners and 35 community-based institutions. It has resulted in threat reduction of biodiversity recovery at 10 sites. Arcadia has provided multiple grants to Harvard University to improve open access at

9270-630: The world's flowering plants , 12% of mammals and 17% of reptiles , amphibians and birds —along with nearly 240 million people. Many regions of high biodiversity and/or endemism arise from specialized habitats which require unusual adaptations, for example, alpine environments in high mountains , or Northern European peat bogs . Accurately measuring differences in biodiversity can be difficult. Selection bias amongst researchers may contribute to biased empirical research for modern estimates of biodiversity. In 1768, Rev. Gilbert White succinctly observed of his Selborne, Hampshire "all nature

9373-482: Was 40 years ago". Of that number, 39% accounts for the terrestrial wildlife gone, 39% for the marine wildlife gone and 76% for the freshwater wildlife gone. Biodiversity took the biggest hit in Latin America , plummeting 83 percent. High-income countries showed a 10% increase in biodiversity, which was canceled out by a loss in low-income countries. This is despite the fact that high-income countries use five times

9476-553: Was estimated in 2007 that up to 30% of all species will be extinct by 2050. Of these, about one eighth of known plant species are threatened with extinction . Estimates reach as high as 140,000 species per year (based on Species-area theory ). This figure indicates unsustainable ecological practices, because few species emerge each year. The rate of species loss is greater now than at any time in human history, with extinctions occurring at rates hundreds of times higher than background extinction rates. and expected to still grow in

9579-569: Was given in 2002 to the School of Oriental and African Studies to start the Endangered Language Documentation Program (ELDP) . The program enables scholars to undertake documentation of disappearing languages. By 2015, the program has documented over 350 languages. The grant also funds training scholars in modern language documentation techniques. The fund donated another US$ 11 million in April 2015. In 2004,

9682-745: Was given to OECD by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and Cambridge University Press . The award recognized the development of the SDG Pathfinder, an open-access digital discovery tool for finding content and data relating to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The OECD's structure consists of three main elements: Delegates from the member countries attend committee and other meetings. Former Deputy Secretary-General Pierre Vinde  [ sv ] estimated in 1997 that

9785-563: Was headquartered in the Château de la Muette in Paris. Following the end of Marshall aid in 1952, the OEEC focused on economic issues. Its coordinating role was challenged after the 1957 Rome Treaties establishing the European Economic Community and Euratom . The OEEC provided a framework for negotiations aimed at setting up a European Free Trade Area , to bring the EEC's Inner Six and other OEEC members together on

9888-457: Was introduced in Q2 2013. The OECD Observer was last issued in the fourth quarter of 2019, with a double edition looking ahead at artificial intelligence, and a cover leading on why statistical offices should hire a comedian. The OECD Observer website closed in the first quarter of 2021; the archive can be consulted at www.oecd.org. The OECD's multilateral surveillance was systematically reviewed for

9991-478: Was launched in 1962. The magazine appeared six times a year until 2010, and became quarterly in 2011 with the introduction of the OECD Yearbook , launched for the 50th anniversary of the organisation. The online and mobile editions contained news, analysis, reviews, commentaries and data on global economic, social and environmental challenges and listings of the latest OECD books. An OECD Observer Crossword

10094-483: Was marked by periodic, massive losses of diversity classified as mass extinction events. A significant loss occurred in anamniotic limbed vertebrates when rainforests collapsed in the Carboniferous , but amniotes seem to have been little affected by this event; their diversification slowed down later, around the Asselian / Sakmarian boundary, in the early Cisuralian (Early Permian ), about 293 Ma ago. The worst

10197-752: Was promoted by the Biden Administration in the United States and the OECD. Secretary-General Mathias Cormann of the OECD said, "This historic package will ensure that large multinational companies pay their fair share of tax everywhere." The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are a set of legally non-binding guidelines attached as an annex to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. They are recommendations providing principles and standards for responsible business conduct for multinational corporations operating in or from countries adhering to

10300-401: Was proposed to explain the biodiversity latitudinal gradient. In this study, the species pool size and the fractal nature of ecosystems were combined to clarify some general patterns of this gradient. This hypothesis considers temperature , moisture , and net primary production (NPP) as the main variables of an ecosystem niche and as the axis of the ecological hypervolume . In this way, it

10403-449: Was reached to create a body that would not only solve European and Atlantic economic issues, but also devise policies that could assist less developed countries. This reconstituted organisation would bring the US and Canada, who were already OEEC observers, on board as full members, and the OEEC would set to work straight away on convincing Japan to join the organisation. The Convention on

10506-567: Was the Permian-Triassic extinction event , 251 million years ago. Vertebrates took 30 million years to recover from this event. The most recent major mass extinction event, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event , occurred 66 million years ago. This period has attracted more attention than others because it resulted in the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs , which were represented by many lineages at

10609-425: Was the worst; vertebrate recovery took 30 million years. Human activities have led to an ongoing biodiversity loss and an accompanying loss of genetic diversity . This process is often referred to as Holocene extinction , or sixth mass extinction . For example, it was estimated in 2007 that up to 30% of all species will be extinct by 2050. Destroying habitats for farming is a key reason why biodiversity

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