Photograph by: Enric Sala, National Geographic
Following the agreement of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at COP15, Campaign for Nature (CfN) is delighted to announce that a formal partnership between CfN and the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC) has been agreed to deliver on the implementation of 30x30.
August 17, 2021
If we needed more proof of our biodiversity crisis, a herd of wild elephants marching through China has been doing the job in the most heart-warming way possible. They’ve been walking north from Xishuangbanna for months, and their antics – raising babies, getting drunk, barging down doors and turning on taps to drink – have captivated the public. But so have the more serious reasons for their unusual migration, which local experts say is probably caused by the destruction of primary forests outside protected areas, forcing elephants to find new places to roam.
As the Asian elephants reached the city of Kunming, its local government deployed an array of tactics to keep the herd out, blocking roads and laying trails of pineapples and sweetcorn to divert them.
Kunming will be clearing away the pineapple trails to welcome world leaders as China hosts the COP15 UN biodiversity conference. A herd of wild elephants walking through Yunnan is a powerful symbol of the urgency that’s forcing our nature crisis onto the agenda of global leaders.
August 16, 2021
For thousands of years, the natural world has allowed human societies to flourish by providing food, water, and materials for shelter and medicine. But the environments that supply these resources — bodies of water, fertile landscapes, tropical forests — are being depleted at an ever-accelerating pace.
The planet’s ecosystems can tolerate only so much extraction on an annual basis; beyond these limits, they can’t replenish and rebound to their normal levels. In 2021, countries exceeded the planetary limit on July 29, meaning 5 full months of natural resource extraction will take place in environments that have already been functionally exhausted.
April 12, 2021
Over the past two years, an extraordinary global campaign has emerged to protect 30 percent of Earth’s total surface from human exploitation by 2030. The members of this so-called 30x30 coalition, which now includes scores of governments, understand that climate change is only one half of the planet’s environmental crisis. The Paris Agreement, while imperative to curb greenhouse gas emissions, will do little by itself to save the planet’s collapsing biodiversity or preserve the massive ecosystems upon which humanity depends—and which we are fast degrading.
January 27, 2021
In an executive order issued on January 27 to address the climate crisis, President Joe Biden ordered a pause on new oil and gas leases on public lands and created a White House office of environmental justice. He also quietly committed his administration to an ambitious conservation goal—to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and coastal seas by 2030.
That target, referred to as “30 by 30” by the conservation community, is backed by scientists who argue that reaching it is critical both to fighting climate change and to protecting the estimated one million species at risk of going extinct.
The U.S. is currently conserving around 26 percent of its coastal waters but only about 12 percent of its land in a largely natural state, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
To reach the 30 by 30 target will require conserving an additional area twice the size of Texas, more than 440 million acres, within the next 10 years. The White House has yet to specify who will oversee the initiative at the federal level and which lands and waterways might be prioritized
September 1, 2020
It’s not an overstatement to say that our oceans are in crisis. Warming waters and ocean acidification caused by greenhouse gas emissions; fertiliser run-off creating dead zones where there’s no oxygen for life to survive, and over-fishing are all contributing to the destruction of biodiversity and loss of the ocean’s ability to mitigate climate change by storing carbon.
Research done for the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy highlights the crucial role played by oceans, which account for 70% of the planet’s surface. It sets out ocean-based climate action that will cumulatively contribute as much as 21% of the emissions reduction needed to put us on a 1.5 degree pathway. These include sustainable seafood production; ocean-based renewable energies; the greening of shipping, and the conservation of mangroves and seagrass that store carbon.
To meet the goals of the Paris climate change agreement, a big proportion of the ocean has to be returned to a natural state, according to the Global Deal for Nature, a paper that sets a science-based target of protecting at least 30% of land and oceans by 2030.
March 5, 2020
The Earth is vast—but it is also finite. As human development has expanded to meet the needs of a growing population, far too much of nature has been lost or degraded. This degradation is a major driver of climate change as well as species loss—and both crises pose serious threats to people.
Scientists are talking of deadly tipping points, and recent images of blazing fires, wounded wildlife and urgent evacuations in Australia hammer home that the delicate balance of nature can be tipped out of control within a relatively short time frame. We urgently need to reset and reverse these trends—but doing so will require broad collaboration and investment. This job is too big for environmentalists alone.
March 3, 2020
A new global deal for nature will need strong implementation and finance, but discussions on these issues at the latest negotiations under the Convention on Biological Diversity were lacking.
The clock is ticking. With just eight months to draw up a new deal for nature to prevent dire predictions of the extinction of one million species becoming reality, scientists and conservation groups are closely following progress of talks under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
January 25, 2020
Our planet has suffered five mass extinctions, the last of which occurred about 66 million years ago, when a giant asteroid believed to have landed near the Yucatan Peninsula set off a chain reaction that wiped out the dinosaurs and roughly three-quarters of the other species on earth. A few years ago, in a book called The Sixth Extinction, the writer Elizabeth Kolbert warned of a devastating sequel, with plant and animal species on land and sea already disappearing at a ferocious clip, their habitats destroyed by human activities.
December 28, 2019
A Conversation With E.O. Wilson The eminent biologist discusses his “Half Earth” vision and adventures with ants.
November 27, 2019
[…] Ours is a bioclimatic world in which every organism, from bacterium to blue whale, inseparably contributes to the climate and surface conditions of Earth. This tapestry, of which we are a part, is unraveling, with its delicate patterns and motifs denigrated to near invisibility, disappearing at a rate and magnitude that rivals that of the great mass extinction events of the past. This fading to nonexistence is making us unfortunate witnesses to the accumulated consequences of human actions over the past 10,000 years. Happily, though, we are now increasingly empowered by science and can act to abate ongoing trends and protect planetary resources before the essential threads of life’s coherence become completely eroded.
New York, September 28, 2019 — Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda of the Republic of Uganda, addressed the 74th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations today. In his remarks, he spoke of Uganda’s commitment to addressing global climate change and the crisis of biodiversity loss.
"That's why Uganda is supporting a proposal at next year's Convention on Biological Diversity that takes bold steps to create a sustainable planet, including protecting at least 30 percent of our lands and generating significantly more funding from governments and the private sector to protect the nature on which our lives and our economies depend."
Watch the Prime Minister’s remarks climate change and biodiversity:
September 23, 2019
Today, on the eve of the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Summit, President Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica, called for the formation of a High Ambition Coalition of nations to push for a Deal for Nature that will protect 30% of the planet by 2030.
September 18, 2019
On behalf of the Republic of Rwanda, the Minister of Environment Vincent Biruta, reaffirmed the country’s commitment of a “comprehensive and ambitious Post-2020 biodiversity framework.” The country’s goals include the commitment to 30x30, helping protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030.
September 6, 2019
Last week marked a significant step for protecting biodiversity around the world. Lead negotiators from over 100 countries convened in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss a global strategy to protect nature and wildlife. Over the next 12 months it will be important to work towards an ambitious deal of protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030 in Kunming, China.
