Protect nature to keep the future safe, says #WC20
While the world anticipates a vaccine for COVID-19, its root causes - the damage humanity is causing the planet and the gross consequences of destroying nature - go unexamined, paving the way for future pandemics.
Twenty of the world’s leading conservation NGOs including Africa Wildlife Foundation, WWF, Space for Giants, Born Free and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have come together to to demand action. Timed to coincide with the gathering of the G20 world leaders in Riyadh, the #WC20 have issued an unprecedented joint declaration, calling for urgent action to invest in nature to protect biodiversity, reduce the risk of future pandemics and safeguard the longterm well being and security of current and future human generations.
“COVID-19 has been a wake-up call to all of us,” says Dr. Cristián Samper, WCS President and CEO. “Now is the time to value and invest in nature, and to ensure that any post COVID-19 economic stimulus packages address the biodiversity, climate change, and health crises in an integrated fashion. In particular, WCS urges G20 countries to prioritise the protection of highly intact forests and other ecosystems, and work in particular to end commercial wildlife trade and markets for human consumption as well as all illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade.”
The G20 now have an unparalleled opportunity to address these issues. Scientists agree that just like HIV, Ebola, SARS, Bird Flu, and MERS, the coronavirus causing COVID-19 is zoonotic, jumping from animals to people, most likely as a result of the increasing human-wildlife interface, including commercial wildlife trade and markets.
The pandemic, which has killed 1.3 million people to date and affected hundreds of millions more, stands as one of the starkest and most urgent warnings yet that our current relationship with nature must change as a matter of urgency.
“Biodiversity cannot be an afterthought in post-COVID19 recovery; it is an essential element,” says Dr. Samper. “Business-as-usual is not an option, and there can be no healthy people without a healthy planet.”
And if the welfare of the future planet isn’t enough, the economic argument is irrefutable. The cost of these investments is a fraction - just one fortieth - of the estimated $26 trillion in economic damage COVID-19 has caused: about $700 billion a year would reverse the decline in biodiversity by 2030. Much of that mony could come from redirecting existing harmful financing, for example in subsidies for intensive agriculture, unsustainable fisheries, and fossil fuels. The world currently sprends $1.8 trillion on a year on subsidies that harm the planet, according to one study: at least $640bn of environmentally damaging financial support for the fossil fuel industry, $520bn for agriculture and $350bn for the unsustainable use of freshwater.
“Current levels of investment in nature recovery and biodiversity protection are woefully inadequate, while harmful perverse financial incentives, which further undermine the viability of natural systems, need to be reduced and, if possible, eliminated,” says Will Travers OBE, Born Free’s Co-Founder and Executive President. “If G20 countries were to commit 0.5% – just half a penny in the pound – of their collective GDP to nature protection, it could raise more than $500bn annually, a transformational increase on the current situation.”
Investing in nature drives green growth and green jobs, and will take us a long way towards tackling the effects of climate change and meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. “Such a move would give the G20 an opportunity to demonstrate global leadership, and ensure the natural world, on which we all rely, is safeguarded for the long-term well-being and security of current and future human generations, and all life on Earth,” says Travers.
Full text of the Declaration is here. In summary, the WC20’s recommendations are:
Policy and Implementation: Strengthen, sufficiently resource, and implement existing international and domestic legislation, and enact new legislation, to ensure the legal, sustainable, and traceable use of natural resources including wildlife, so that it no longer threatens human or animal health.
Law Enforcement: Scale up financial and technical support for law enforcement in key wildlife source states, transit hubs and destination countries/territories. Adopt a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach to help create an effective deterrent to wildlife crime.
Safeguard Natural Ecosystems: Secure government support, adequate finances, and technical expertise to effectively protect and manage natural ecosystems and wildlife so that they are valued and safeguarded, and become generators of economic wealth.
Support Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: Respect the rights of IPLCs living within and/or depending on natural ecosystems, to improve human well-being, alleviate the pressures of human-wildlife coexistence, and reduce, halt, and reverse the loss of natural habitat loss and the associated wildlife they hold.
Reduce Demand: Work with government authorities, stakeholders, civil society, and major influencers to inform the public about the dangers of zoonotic spillovers and how to lower their risks.
