Over the last century, our species has increasingly dominated the earth, expanding, developing, growing … but also polluting and depleting our non-renewable resources, creating irreversible losses in biodiversity.
Changes in species abundance can throw food chains out of whack and put livelihoods at risk.
The researchers found that farms with diverse crops planted together provide more secure, stable habitats for wildlife and are more resilient to climate change than the single-crop standard that dominates today’s agriculture industry.
“Had we acted 10 years ago, we would have needed now to reduce every year our emissions by 3.3%, which would be doable. Because we haven’t acted, we now need to reduce our emissions by 7.6%, which is a stretch — a massive stretch.”— Inger Andersen, executive director, UNEP
Damage to environment could wipe £368bn a year from growth by 2050 and UK will be hard hit, WWF warns
Climate-related risks overshadow all other risks – in particular economic risks – undermining cohesive action and creating blind spots. Society needs a new “growth paradigm” that addresses the interconnectedness of socio-economic factors with climate change. Businesses need to adapt their metrics to assess the value of nature.
Representatives from 18 African countries committed to create a new Community of Practice on Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in Africa.
Forests are climate-negative technology at scale. So investments in tropical forests should be investment-ready, and fund managers able to tap the opportunity should be rolling in capital.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are holding their annual meetings this week, Oct. 14-20, in Washington, D.C. Amid the discussions around jobs, poverty reduction and value chains, one of the talks will center on a seemingly unusual topic for the bankers, economists and finance ministers in attendance: biodiversity.
