German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon officially launch the International Year of Biodiversity

“It becomes crystal clear that the problems of our planet are highly interlinked - without combating climate change we will fail to stop the loss of biodiversity, without protecting ecosystems with their carbon storing capacity it will be extremely difficult to meet climate change targets. And without both of them we will fail in our efforts to fight hunger in the world,” said Jochen Flasbarth, President of the German Federal Environment Agency.