Without Biodiversity, There is No Net Zero
Nature is under grave threat. We estimate one million species are at risk of extinction by 2030 and populations of wildlife have declined 70 percent in 50 years. Global action has never been more urgent, as world leaders prepare for the COP15 UN biodiversity summit in Montreal this December. The summit goal is to agree targets to protect natural habitats and species, and their success will help determine whether we continue to destroy our natural heritage or start to reverse the destruction.
But there is good news as well. As leading global conservation funders – who have channelled £160 million to more than 4,000 conservationists around the world – our work shows there’s no shortage of local, ambitious leaders who demonstrate the speed and innovation needed to reverse course.
For example, our conservationists have forged a 12-country alliance in Asia to protect snow leopards; they have convinced the Mongolian government to scrap 37 mining licences in key snow leopard habitat. They have successfully sued palm oil companies for illegally cutting down orangutan habitats, and they have reduced poaching of sea turtles to near zero on the west African island of Príncipe.
Now a step change is needed in commitment from governments, including the British government. We need significant, clear and ambitious targets backed by equivalent funding to protect ecosystems and avert catastrophic loss of nature.
With a combined 440 years of experience in conservation, we have come together – Peoples’ Trust for Endangered Species, Whitley Fund for Nature, The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), The Rufford Foundation, MBZ Species Conservation Fund, and Fauna & Flora International – to push for five priorities to be addressed when governments meet in December in Montreal
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Posted On: 09/12/2022