THE COMMODITY ISSUE
NAT U R E ’ S D ECL IN E &
T H E G LO BA L G OA L S:
W E A R E NOT O N
T R ACK
Protecting nature, solving the climate crisis and living
sustainability cannot be achieved by current business
as usual. We need a radical transformation of our
society if we are to stand a chance against ecological
breakdown. The message is clear: governments and
businesses are not doing enough.
A ICH I
B IO DIVERS IT Y
TA RGET S
Good progress towards 4/20 global goals
Moderate progress towards 7/20 global goals
Poor progress towards 6/20 global goals
S U S TA IN A B LE
DEVELO P MEN T
GOA LS
8/17
SDGs are undermined by
nature’s decline..
Great Hornbill Buceros
bicornis (Vulnerable)
Photo Bjorn Olesen
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The target on which the least progress has
been made addresses the impact of climate
change on coral reefs and other vulnerable
ecosystems. This example illustrates a wider
trend which the authors found throughout their
analysis: countries made the least headway in
tackling the root causes of biodiversity loss,
such as habitat destruction, and unsustainable
agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Because of
this, the state of nature continues to decline
at an alarming rate, leading to the conclusions
recently published in the IPBES report.
The question now is: how can this be
changed? In 2020, government delegations will
once again gather to determine new targets to
ensure we live in harmony with nature. How can
we do better than we have done over the last
decade and ensure that in another ten years we
will be well on the way to a more sustainable
future?
“Our finding that we are unlikely to meet
most of the Aichi Targets is not surprising to
most conservationists” says Butchart. “But the
lessons learned over the last decade must
inform the development of the new post-2020
framework for biodiversity.”
“LESSONS LEARNED MUST INFORM
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW
BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK“
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80% of the SDG targets
related to nature have seen
insufficient or
negative progress.
PA RIS
CLIMAT E
AGREEMEN T
Our current climate policy will lead to 4˚C of global
warming compared to pre-industial levels, with
catastrophic climate impacts.
Our pledges and targets currently limits warming to 3˚C
The Paris Agreement - limiting global temperature rise to
well below 2˚C, and aimg fr 1.5˚C
The IPBES report contains two broad sets of
messages. Firstly, we need to see transformative
change: system-wide reorganisation across
technological, economic and social factors,
driven by a new set of ambitious targets.
Secondly, these targets need to be smarter:
more specific, less ambiguous, better quantified
and more easily measured, with indicators
available to track progress from day one.
For the past 50 years, progress in human
development has come at the price of the
environment. But this does not have to be the
case. In this issue, we chronicle just some of
the initatives BirdLife Partners are pioneering
across the world to disrupt traditional ways of
doing business: projects promoting sustainable
practices that serve to protect both nature and
the livelihoods of those that live in its vicinity.
But while these projects show the way, in
isolation they are not enough. An ambitious new
biodiversity framework, supported by smarter
targets, is needed to ensure that at the end of
the next decade one million species are no
longer under threat of extinction.
BIRDLIFE • JUL-SEP 2019