Faced with climate emergency, IUCN calls for "radical changes"
IUCN wants to secure the future of life on Earth and halt biodiversity losses by 2030 and achieve ecosystem restoration by 2050. (Illustrative image) Photo by DeAgostini / Getty Images
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4 min
A few weeks away from COP 26 climate and COP 15 biodiversity, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) calls for ambitious transformations in the face of "
two aspects of the same crisis
", at a time when negotiations skate.
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The IUCN, with 1,400 members (States, government agencies, NGOs, indigenous peoples and even business associations) closed the assembly of its members this Friday, September 10 with the publication of a “Marseille Manifesto” and the adoption of motions related to current international negotiations.
“
The climate and biodiversity emergencies are not distinct from one another, but rather two aspects of the same crisis,
” recalls IUCN.
The health crisis is not forgotten either.
For the organization, the Covid-19 pandemic “
highlights the unsustainable nature of our relationship with nature
”.
Its members passed a motion to prevent pandemics.
"
Recovery plans based on nature
"
“
During the pandemic, we changed our behaviors to protect our health.
[...] Radical changes are once again necessary
, urges the IUCN.
Economic success can no longer be achieved at the expense of nature
”, insists in its manifesto the organization, recalling that“
we are part of it and we depend on it for our lives and our means of subsistence
”.
IUCN calls for “
nature-based stimulus packages
”, with “
at least 10% of total stimulus budgets
” dedicated to protecting and restoring nature, with the rest not funding activities that are harmful to it.
"
If we are to secure the future of life on Earth, we must halt biodiversity losses by 2030 and achieve ecosystem restoration by 2050
".
This is one of the requests that can be read in the “Marseille manifesto”, adopted this Friday at the end of the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
Protect marine mammals and old forests
Sébastien Moncorps, president of the IUCN, he hopes that these recommendations will be heard by the COP 15 scheduled for 2022 in China.
“
We obviously want it to be ambitious, with specific objectives, such as the objective of having 30% air protected by 2030, both in land and marine environments,” says
Sébastien Moncorps.
So we are asking, for example, for enhanced action for the protection of marine mammals. Today, one in four species of marine mammals is threatened worldwide. And we are asking for the creation of reinforced protection zones to really have spaces of tranquility for cetaceans.
"
IUCN also calls for old forests to be protected: “
We have recommendations to better manage the impacts of the mining industry, which are very strong on natural environments,”
recalls Sébastien Moncorps
.
So we need to better regulate and prevent all this environmental damage, and also, now be part of a circular economy logic.
"
Rather than opening new projects ever deeper, ever further, to meet this demand for materials and minerals, the President of the IUCN recommends that already existing materials be recycled.
►
To read: IUCN's “Red List”: nearly 28% of the species studied are threatened
Fight against deforestation
Protecting 80% of the Amazon rainforest against deforestation and mining, it is with this objective that
the indigenous peoples
came to Marseille to the World Conservation Congress. On Friday, their motion, presented under urgent procedure, was passed unanimously by the 1,400 members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
A victory for the delegates of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica) which represents 505 indigenous peoples from the nine countries of the Amazon Basin. It is also a recognition, believes Claudette Labonté, delegate of Coica, French Guiana
:
“
There, for the first time, we were invited and we participated in the vote. Already, that is a first step, because we have so many fights.
We have had so many deaths too, among the leaders and so many events to be able to sensitize people, to be able to understand that we were nevertheless one of the best fighters against climate change, to save this forest because we live by 'she.
"
La Coica takes the example of the Amazon, but hopes to spread this all over the world: “
At some point you have to raise awareness.
We hope that other bodies like the COP, like the world summit, with indigenous peoples, speak out, that we are treated as equals.
"
Claudette Labonté is optimistic that with the IUCN allies, they will be able to convey at the highest level that it is essential to protect this forest.
►
To read: Faced with the consequences of climate change, the solution is in nature, according to the IUCN
(With
AFP
)
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