The report highlighted the Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in Kenya. The photo focuses on the face of a giraffe stretching to eat shoots from a tree.
Yasuyoshi CHIBA
By AFP - Agence France Presse
UN experts call for three “transformations” for nature
Kelly MACNAMARA
Human societies need a radical overhaul to halt the destruction of the planet, according to the “transformative change” report by the UN panel of biodiversity experts, released on Wednesday.
The assessment, the second made by the expert panel this week, states that overconsumption in the richest countries, the concentration of wealth and power, and a society increasingly disconnected from nature are causing ecological destruction.
The report offers ideas on how to respond to the “loss of biodiversity, the decline of nature, and the projected collapse of key ecosystem functions.”
Taking action will be difficult, but not impossible, according to the report.
“It's not just governments. It's not just companies. It's not just civil society. It's all of us. We all need to work together,” said Arun Agrawal, one of the main authors of the report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Here are three examples of successful transformations, large and small, according to IPBES.
- Plenty of sea -
In 2002, Spain suffered what was, at the time, its worst environmental disaster when the Prestige oil tanker broke in two, spilling fuel that blackened swathes of the Atlantic coast.
Galicia's fishing communities reacted to the devastation by pioneering a new way of managing a marine reserve, with fishermen, scientists, and local authorities working together.
The “Os Minarzos” reserve model “was not without its tensions,” said IPBES.
However, more than 17 years later, the area boasts better fishing practices, more species, and higher incomes, as well as greater trust and cooperation.
It has also inspired new guidelines for the UN's agricultural body and a network of more than 20 million fishermen in Europe and parts of North and South America.
- Ant Forest -
China's largest private tree-planting project, Ant Forest, is a mobile app that rewards users for climate-friendly activities.
The app boasts that 500 million people have used its program, which gives users “green energy points” for acts such as walking or cycling to work instead of driving and reducing the use of plastic and paper.
The points turn into a virtual tree, which Ant Forest matches by planting a real tree.
“Recognizing a wide range of ecological and social objectives, the plants are suited to specific contexts and provide jobs in eco-agriculture and eco-tourism in remote rural areas facing environmental degradation in China,” says the report.
Since its launch in 2016, the project has planted 548 million trees in 13 provinces.
- 'Community power' -
The traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities is a key aspect of the report, which highlighted the Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in Kenya.
IPBES said that this “represents a new model of conservation,” which tries to tackle a range of issues together, including species loss, income, and climate change.
Conservation involves community-managed protected areas, as well as activities such as river cleaning and tree planting.
IPBES said that the project has succeeded in creating areas “where both humans and wildlife thrive.”
“In a very short period, biodiversity has reappeared,” said Karen O'Brien, another of the report's main authors.
“The power of the community, again and again in our examples, is important.”
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