The 30 by 30 campaign was conceived in 2018/19 to protect 30% of the planets terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in a natural state via protected areas or other effective conservation mechanisms, indigenous and community led conservation projects. The strategy consists of three areas: Building political support, ensuring local and indigenous support and boosting funding for nature conservation. In 2020 the UK committed to protect 30% of the UK’s land by 2020.
Over 70 countries have now signed up to this initiative but is it too late? We, as the human race are on a perilous journey towards our extinction and a wake up call needs to happen and be listened to. Human pressure on biodiversity is increasing and human caused climate change is increasingly threatening nature and its contributions to people and society. We have crossed a number of nature based tipping points and are rapidly heading towards further climatic and biodiversity tipping points. This wake up call has gone out on numerous occasions lately, from the state of the planet report through to the latest IPBES-IPCC report, all saying we have nine years or less left to sort out the issues with climate change and loss of biodiversity. We are currently loosing species from the planet at a rate of 1000 times higher than natural processes and if biodiversity is in crisis then we as a species are in crisis. Biodiversity loss and climate change are linked and our existance is at stake if we continue on the path that has been set. Professor E.O Wilson summed this up by saying “we need ants to survive, but they don’t need us at all“
Changes need to happen, not small changes but transformational changes – goods, services and infrastructure need to become more aligned with climate change and nature. We are part of nature, dependant on nature . We can’t live without nature and we need to recognise this at all levels from individuals, through indigenous peoples to governments and worldwide institutions.We need to treat climate, biodiversity and human society as coupled systems and not individual entities. The world may be going down a drain, but there is hope – the world is starting to come together, to fight and protect the planet. Voices are suddenly being heard, the planet in peril has invoked a response, but is it too late……..
Organeco Blog 