But it acquired its key global pledge during the Johannesburg summit of 2002, when governments agreed to achieve a "significant reduction" in the rate of biological diversity loss by 2010.

BBC: World's biodiversity 'crisis' needs action, says UN

In this biological edifice of loss, one point stands out: we need to understand climate change not just in terms of the historical record, but in the full realization that it is driving possibly millions of other species and trillions of individuals to untimely graves.

FORBES: 5 Million Deaths From Climate Change Pedicted By 2020

"The worst impact is the loss of biological function that these wild animals fulfil in nature, " he told the BBC.

BBC: Brazil moves to curb wildlife trafficking

The launch of GBO-3 comes as governments begin two weeks of talks in Nairobi aimed at formulating new measures to tackle global biodiversity loss that can be adopted at October's Convention on Biological Diversity summit in Japan.

BBC: Nature loss 'to damage economies'