The Aichi Biodiversity Targets were adopted in Nagoya, Japan in 2010.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011-2020 the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (Resolution 65/161). The UN Decade on Biodiversity serves to support and promote implementation of the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, with the goal of significantly reducing biodiversity loss. In December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2013 as the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation (Resolution A/RES/65/154). In reflection of this declaration, the 2013 World Water Day, which took place on 22 March 2013, is also dedicated to water cooperation.

Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anenomes and jellyfish. Often called "rainforests of the sea", coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for 25% of all marine species including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians.

Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be the highest at low latitudes near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Marine biodiversity tends to be the highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is the highest and in mid-latitudinal band in all oceans.

Neutralism describes the relationship between two species which interact, but do not affect each other. It describes interactions where the fitness of one species has absolutely no effect whatsoever on that of the other.

The neritic zone, also called coastal waters, the coastal ocean or the sublittoral zone, is the part of the ocean extending from the low tide mark to the edge of the continental shelf, with a relatively shallow depth extending to about 200 metres (110 fathoms or 667 feet). The neritic zone has generally well-oxygenated water, low water pressure, and relatively stable temperature and salinity levels. The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos. For example, the benthic invertebrate community, including crustaceans and polychaetes.

A keystone species is a species that is connected to a disproportionately large number of other species in the food web. Keystone species have lower levels of biomass in the trophic pyramid relative to the importance of their role. 

Kwongan is a type of heathland found on the coastal plains of Western Australia. Kwongan comprises floristically-rich heath with dense thickets of sclerophyllous shrubs and isolated small trees. It is characterised by nutrient-poor sandy soils, frequent wildfire, a very high level of endemism, spectacular displays of wildflowers in spring, and a Mediterranean climate with winter rainfall and hot, dry summers.

The Western Ghats are home to four tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregions, i.e.the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, North Western Ghats montane rain forests, South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests and South Western Ghats montane rain forests. A total of 39 properties including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites including 20 in Kerala, 10 in Karnataka, 5 in Tamil Nadu and 4 in Maharashtra.

The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), which met in Paris from 27 to 30 May, has added 12 sites to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The additions bring the total number of biosphere reserves to 621 in 117 countries. The new biosphere reserves are: Alakol (Kazakhstan); Gochang (Republic of Korea); Great Nicobar (India); Macizo de Cajas (Ecuador); Marais Audomarois (France); MariñasCoruñesas e Terras do Mandeo (Spain); Mont-Viso (France); Monteviso Area dellaBiosfera del Monviso (Italy); Real Sitio de San Ildefonso-El Espinar (Spain); Snake Island, Laotie Mountain (China); Terres de l’Ebre, Catalonia (Spain) and Ziarat Juniper Forest (Pakistan).

The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF, the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation.The WWF assigns a conservation status to each ecoregion in the Global 200, i.e. critical or endangered, vulnerable and relatively stable or intact. Over half of the ecoregions in the Global 200 are rated endangered.

Vascular plants (from Latin vasculum: duct), also known as tracheophytes (from the equivalent Greek term trachea) and also higher plants, form a large group of plants that are defined as those land plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have non-lignified tissue to conduct products of photosynthesis.

The Western Ghats are home to four tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregions, i.e. the North-Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, North-Western Ghats montane rain forests, South-Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, and South-Western Ghats montane rain forests. The evergreen Wayanad forests of Kerala mark the transition zone between the northern and southern ecologic regions of the Western Ghats. The southern ecologic regions are generally wetter and more species-rich.

The acronym HIPPO stands for habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, human overpopulation and over-harvesting.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000. Initiated in 2001, the objective of the MA was to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for action needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of those systems and their contribution to human well-being.The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.