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Three-quarters of the Earth's environment "seriously altered", two-thirds of the marine environment affected, one-third of the Earth's forest cover disappeared since the pre-industrial era, a platic pollution multiplied by ten since 1980 and this figure of endangered species, estimated at one million, out of the eight that count our planet ... The report of the UN Expert Group on Biodiversity, made public Monday, and a draft synthesis had emerged there A few days ago, is alarmist.
And the observation he makes joins what many scientists have long described: the risk of a sixth "mass extinction" (term not included in the report), the first of which the man would be at the origin, but also the first ... that he could stop. Therefore, a question arises for all: what to do?
Our agri-food system in question
This text, on which 450 experts have worked for three years in the Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which brings together 132 countries, lists the five main culprits of the risks to biodiversity. Here they are, at least to the most impacting: invasive species, pollution, climate change, direct exploitation of resources (fishing, hunting) and, main cause, land use (agriculture, deforestation).
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In fifty years, world agricultural production has tripled. While the global population has also increased, since 1980 per capita consumption of natural resources has increased by an average of 15 per cent globally, with huge geographical disparities from one continent to another. . The report advocates a transformation of agricultural production (agro-ecology, limitation of pesticides, diversification of crops, better water management), but also consumption habits (diet, waste).
"We welcome the call (launched in the report) for a change in diets, towards more plant-based food to reduce the consumption of meat and dairy products, which has well-known negative impacts on biodiversity, climate change and human health, "commented Éric Darier of Greenpeace at AFP.
The consumption of meat is pointed out as a decisive stake by many actors. Its production is synonymous with greenhouse gas emissions (especially for red meats such as lamb or beef) and it is very greedy in water, grain and land, necessary to feed and breed animals. "The priority should be to promote a world-wide diet that reduces the share of animal products, meat and fish, but also less rich in fats and sugars, the production of which, through oil, beet or sugar cane, also takes land, "said in the daily Le Monde Yann Laurans, director of the biodiversity program of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (Iddri).
Even though scientists insist that meat has more impact than other food products, the synthesis adopted by the delegations Saturday does not directly call to eat less meat. The wording has been modified since the draft text, perhaps a sign of hostility from some producing countries.
Political voluntarism to the test
"We need a citizen mobilization but it is also necessary that the regulations follow and that the State sets a number of objectives", recalled Monday morning on our antennaJean-François Silvain, president of the Foundation for research on biodiversity (FRB ), who also pointed to "intensive farming options based on somewhat inconsiderate transport".
Interviewed in the columns of the daily Ouest-France , one of the main authors of the text of the IPBES, Paul Leadley, director of the laboratory of ecology, systematics and evolution at the University Paris-Sud, cites an example of political voluntarism : "Deforestation in Brazil, which was very high in 2000, has been significantly reduced, thanks to the government and the companies that seemed to have had an awareness, and we've even talked about stopping deforestation. new government (of President Jair Bolsonaro), she left again more beautiful ... "
The struggle for biodiversity is subject to the vagaries of politics, changes in government, but also to unfulfilled commitments ... "The major international agreements are not enough if their implementation is lacking, as is the case today. ", is sadly Yann Laurans in The World . "The texts, laws, directives on biodiversity are already numerous.What is missing is their concrete translation, in agricultural, forestry, urban development transport policies ..."
Like the report, the economist also insists on the defense of the "right" of the indigenous peoples, the most likely to ensure biodiversity according to him by their knowledge of the natural environment. But this term of "rights" has disappeared from the final text of the report for those, less strong and less politically committed, of "practices", "institutions" and "values" ...
An observation, no prescriptions
Finding both philosophical and practical, the IPBES report unveiled Monday mentions several tools available to governments to improve the "sustainable" nature of the economic system, such as "effective" fishing quotas or a reform of state aid and of taxation. It lists "levers" of action, "incentives", "follow-ups" or "measures". But in the end it has no binding character on the states.
Another limit he does not quote a specific objective, unlike what happens in the fight against global warming, for example, where the goal of limiting the rise to 2 ° C only had concluded the COP21 in Paris In 2015, and no doubt aware of the power and symbol of numbers, the instigators of the text highlight this million endangered species (which corresponds to a high range) and ambitions a 50% managed land "in a sustainable way by 2030.
It remains to be seen now if the States members of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) will set at their meeting at the end of 2020, in Kunming, China, the ambitious goals envisioned by environmentalists for a sustainable planet in 2050.