Human environmental damage and biodiversity loss were respectively ranked as the third and fifth risks by likelihood, and sixth and fourth by impact by the World Economic Forum in 2021. Additionally, last year’s Dasgupta Review pointed to a financial and social system that fundamentally undervalues nature and places unsustainable demands on ecosystem services, even whilst 50% of economic value generation is dependent on nature. This year’s “Biodiversity COP” 15 will seek to implement a Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework , with many stakeholders calling for aims to halting net nature loss in the 2020s, become “Nature Positive” by 2030 and live in harmony with nature by 2050.
Rather than being two separate challenges we firmly believe that climate change and nature loss must start to be treated as interconnected and interdependent issues, an approach reflected in the links between our Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change engagement programmes. Climate change is a key driver of nature loss, undermining and potentially reversing nature’s ability to sequester greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and diminishing the role nature can play in protecting us from the physical consequences of climate change. The twin pathways below highlight the links; nature must be enlisted as an ally in the fight against climate change, and climate mitigation must not come at the expense of nature.
Interested in learning more? We explore how nature can be a powerful ally in the fight against climate change. Download the full viewpoint to discover more.