We are now in 'IYB'

2010, The International Year of Biodiversity, is now upon us.

This year, we will be using our main ground floor temporary exhibition space to host a variety of projects which reflect different ways of looking at this thing called 'biodiversity', as part of the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity.

So why is biodiversity important? Why we are so eager to hold on to the Giant Panda, the Polar Bear, and the Blue Whale? In an age when more than a billion human beings live in poverty, why exert energy and resources saving animals that can't survive of their own accord?

Or are we more closely connected than that? Can any individual species exist in isolation? Species are interdependent on the local level as well as on a larger scale. Actions we take that affect one part of our biodiversity can have implications for other parts. So what would really happen if there were no polar bears? Or no krill?

These questions are for later in our year... First up, though, here is the official word on the Year of Biodiversity from the UN: http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/.

And, here is a take on the year, from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8449506.stm.

Finally, have a look at our Biodiversity resource page - send us your comments - and make suggestions for what you'd like to see from us this year...