An open letter to all United Nations Climate and Biodiversity negotiators and other concerned parties.
Invest in Nature since it concerns everyone’s future.
Picture: Ego to Eco to Seva. Daniel Christian Wahl, 2020
The world is facing enormous environmental challenges: climate change and biodiversity loss. Especially last and this year, the disastrous effects are clear. Indeed, we are losing species to extinction so rapidly that even the Guardian (October, 2024) is calling this era the Age of Extinction. Climate change is disastrous, with last year being the hottest year recorded, and this year might not be so different either. Climate change shows itself in different forms: from forest fires to drought, and tropical storms. Thus, we need to act now and fast, in order to avoid total collapse of nature, and our own economies and societies (Rockström, 2024).
The United Nations are organizing the annual Conference of Parties for Biodiversity in Cali, Colombia (CBD, COP 16) and Climate Change, Baku, Azerbaijan (UNFCCC, COP 29). Much is again at stake and many important nature and climate agreements already had the aim to tackle these issues. However, there is no visible and measurable real positive impact so far with these agreements.
The problem is that nature and environmental aspects are most often global public goods. Meaning, there is no exclusion nor rivalry in this regards. Everyone can enjoy it, but also everyone can destroy it. In order to tackle this problem, the Frankfurt School Sustainable World Academy (2024) states that there are a couple of steps to take, and I have slightly adjusted them towards this article:
1. Reduce harmful subsidies and incentives.
No more fossil fuel subsidies, tax breaks, or positive incentives. Or even better, refrain from extraction, like the Ecuadorian state (once) proposed with the Yasuni-ITT Initiative in 2009, but dropped it due to lack of funding. However, civil society organizations have won a referendum in 2023 to make this happen. Read more about it here.
2. Prioritize and/or Privatize biodiversity if necessary in order to protect it.
Create nature parks and corridors between them, like the European Natura 2000, which is however not so successful regarding its implementation.
3. Bundle biodiversity protection finance initiatives and incentives.
Use finance in different forms: public & private. Use public funding when necessary, and market based mechanisms when possible. Be agnostic and impact opportunistic.
4. Use the Precautionary Principle at all times possible.
Use the precautionary principle at all times possible by doing no harm in first instance, and make real sure it is the case. Do Less Harm is not acceptable when it is avoidable.
With the future of us all at stake, I urge those involved with the UN negotiations and all those concerned, to make science based, tangible, and measurable commitments and hold each other accountable to it.
We need bold Eco leadership now!
Sources
Frankfurt School Sustainable World Academy. (2024). On: https://www.frankfurt-school.de/en/home/international-advisory-services/sustainable-world-academy
Guardian. (2024). On: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/the-age-of-extinction
Martin Brown. (2021). Fairsnape. On: https://fairsnape.com/2021/01/11/ego-eco-seva-revisited/
Rockström, J. (2024). On: https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-videos/2024-08-19-the-tipping-points-of-climate-change—and-where-we-stand.html
Picture: Ego to Eco to Seva.
Credits: Daniel Christian Wahl, 2020.