🔎 What’s going on?
Last week (on 22nd Sept) at a UN General Assembly side event, nine philanthropic organisations announced the launch of the ‘Protecting Our Planet Challenge’ by committing $5billion to protect nature.
🌲 What does this mean?
The funding announcement at the Transformative Action for Nature and People event marks an unprecedented and the largest-ever private philanthropic funding commitment to nature conservation. This commitment ensures that 30% of the planet is protected and conserved in the most important places for biodiversity by 2030 (i.e. 30x30). Even more significantly, the pledge includes stewardship of Indigenous territories (refers to peoples who have a historical association and/or links with a particular region or territories before colonisation), which has been welcomed by Indigenous leaders.
At the same event, 75 financial institutions from around the world, worth 12 trillion euros in assets, also made a pledge to commit to protecting and restoring biodiversity through their investments.
The nine organisations include Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin; Bezos Earth Fund; Bloomberg Philanthropies; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Nia Tero; Rainforest Trust ($500 million); Re:wild; Wyss Foundation ($500 million); and the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation.
❓ Why should I care?
We are facing twin crises at the moment - biodiversity and climate crisis. We have been facing a steady decline in the number and variety of animal and plant species on the planet driven by human activities. It’s projected that if we don’t course-correct soon, up to 1 million known species could disappear by 2050. This is a problem that doesn’t receive enough media coverage and attention when compared to the climate crisis. The $5billion commitment is particularly significant because the current global biodiversity financing gap is huge - we need $700 billion to reverse the global biodiversity crisis.
🚦 Where do we need to be?
There are two actions we need to move towards. First, address the root of the biodiversity crisis - which is unsustainable practices of consumption and production, along with closing the nature financing gap. This can be done quite simply by adopting circular economy principles across every sector as advocated by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. Secondly, the financing directed towards rectifying the biodiversity crisis should be aimed towards innovative nature-based solutions. Even though tree-planting initiatives are excellent and highly encouraged, there are plenty of other initiatives out there that can reverse the biodiversity crisis - such as regenerative agriculture.
👤 What can I do about it?
As an individual, you can focus on extending the life of every product you buy by introducing more care and recycling as much as possible. With clothing, consider renting clothes or buying second-hand rather than buying brand new.
As a business, you can focus on the conservation of existing ecosystems but also on restoring ecosystems. For example, in the UK this would mean restoring vast hectares of peatlands to ensure they store carbon rather than leak it. In other parts of the world, this could mean protecting mangroves. Other initiatives include rewilding projects, mass tree planting, and reintroducing lost species.
Related: UN publishes Paris style biodiversity plan