World Leaders Gather To Halt And Reverse Biodiversity Loss By 2030

The United Nations Biodiversity Conference kicks off this week in Cali, Colombia. It’s a crucial international event focused on protecting nature, wildlife, and biodiversity. Although it doesn’t attract the same attention as global climate conferences, it is just as vital for the health of our planet.

Around 190 nations are participating in “COP16,” which aims to safeguard biodiversity hotspots rich in species and restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030. This effort could secure rainforests, enhance carbon capture, and help fight climate change.

So far, only 25 countries have submitted their blueprints. The fates of business and nature are directly linked to outcomes. The conference framework also aims to raise $200 billion a year by 2030 from both the public and private sectors. If climate financing is an indicator, it will be a tricky proposition. However, this funding will make it easier for developing countries to launch large-scale conservation and restoration projects.

“Every business in every sector needs to be thinking about its impact on nature and its dependency on nature and how that dependency creates risk to their organization. We need to get every business in every sector to think about nature differently,” says Tony Goldner, executive director of the task force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. “They must understand their impacts on the planet and how to reduce them.” Greenhouse Communications hosted a virtual press event in which he spoke.

That’s why at least 130 businesses and financial institutions with combined revenues of $1.1 trillion are involved with COP16. They include Danone, H&M Group, IKEA, Kering, Nestlé, Salesforce, Unilever, and Volvo.

The World Economic Forum estimates that over half the world’s GDP—$44 trillion in economic value—depends on nature. However, it also points out that we can restore and repair ecological damages. For example, Indigenous communities manage a third of Earth’s territories, and 91% of that land is in fair to good condition.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services highlights the urgency, pointing out that native species have declined by 20% since 1900.

Another alarming finding comes from the Living Planet Index, which shows that wildlife populations declined by 69% globally between 1970 and 2018, driven by deforestation, agriculture, and climate change. This loss has hit Indigenous communities hardest, especially those in Asia, Africa, and South America, which rely on rainforests for survival.

COP16 President and Colombia’s Minister of Environment Susana Muhamad will lead the quest to rethink biodiversity preservation using “Peace with Nature” as its theme. Part of her focus is on deforestation, which she said results in 20% of global CO2 emissions and the destruction of the homes of animal and plant species. Colombia’s forthcoming strategy is to finance projects in nature tourism, renewable energy, and sustainable industry—a pursuit the country hopes will attract $40 million in foreign capital.

Global Shift In Policies

Marco Lambertini, former head of the World Wildlife Fund and now leader of the Nature Positive Initiative, said the overarching aim is to halt and reverse biodiversity loss—possible because it is now a top concern among political, corporate, and societal agendas. “Nature can recover faster than the climate,” he said at the press event. This recovery is in the interest of businesses, which cannot thrive unless the communities they serve also prosper.

During a trip to Panama in September, I spent time in the rainforests, learning about biodiversity. Yves Basset, an entomologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, gave me a tour of his insect lab. He told me there are about 10 million insect species globally, and they play a vital role in pollinating 95% of the planet’s crops. Without them, many plants—and our food supply—would disappear.

His team studies insects on Barro Colorado Island, where 25,000 specimens live; they analyze about 2,000 of them.

“It’s survival of the fittest in the insect world,” he says. “We test for insect decline and seek informed environmental policies.” With that, temperature levels are a critical factor. “Some species are declining, and most are okay. But that doesn’t mean everything is okay. Some insects react well to higher temperatures, but other species will crash if they rise too much.”

I also met researchers at the Smithsonian’s Sensory and Cognitive Ecology Lab, some of whom work the night shift in the Barro Colorado rainforest studying bats that feed on winged insects and spiders. Rising temperatures threaten the forests and the insects on which bats rely, disrupting their natural behaviors and breeding habits.

As Nina Mikander from BirdLife International put it during the web event, “Nature can be restored, but extinctions cannot.” She is referring to saving endangered species and reversing the decline of biodiversity across the planet.

Protecting 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030 is daunting. During the press event, Marcelo Furtado of the World Resources Institute in Brazil pointed out that global efforts to curb biodiversity loss and climate change aren’t happening fast enough. He warned that we’re likely to miss the targets set by the Paris Agreement, leading to more severe and frequent droughts and floods. Suppose we continue to degrade ecosystems. That could cause lower crop yields and water shortages, aggravating global hunger.

COP16 in Cali is thus critical. It’s time for a global shift in government policies and stronger partnerships with businesses to halt the rapid loss of wildlife and biodiversity—a move that let’s us all live in peace with nature.

Reporter’s Note: I have written a three-part on series on Panama, which focuses on the country’s economy and environment and how the rainforest and Panama Canal are intertwined. It also looks at how to value and thus save the rainforest. Today’s story is timely and unofficially, the fourth in that series.