Leaked UN report on biodiversity calls for 8 changes to save planet

Positive actions to improve the condition of forests, agriculture, food systems, climate, human health, fisheries, oceans and cities have been suggested by experts to ensure human well-being and save the planet in a United Nations (UN) report.

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report or GBO-5 is to be released on September 15, 2020. Down to Earth has been able to access the report. The GBO-5 is an overview of the state of nature. It is a final report card on the progress made by countries in achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

These 20 global biodiversity targets were included in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for the 2011-2020 period adopted by the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity. But none of the 20 Aichi biodiversity targets have been met, the GBO-5 has shown.

What the world needed was a shift from business-as-usual, the report said. This transformation needed to take place in all human activities that were interlinked with natural resources.

This shift was crucial, the report added as natural resources would continue to decline and the world would not be able to meet the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.

The GBO-5 suggested eight types of shift that need to be implemented to achieve the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity. These include:

• Transition within land and forests: The report called the restoration of all forests that had been degraded. It also urged restoring local ecosystems.
• Sustainable agriculture: Farmers would have to reduce the use of chemicals and instead focus more on agroecological farming practices, the report said.
• Sustainable food systems: The report urged people to eat healthier, plant-based food and less meat. It also called for focussing on the problem of food wastage within the supply chain and household.
• Climate action: The report called for nature-based solutions to reduce climate change
• One health: Agricultural and urban ecosystems, as well as wildlife should be managed in an integrated manner, it said.

Sustainable management of fisheries, oceans and freshwater as well as sustainable development of cities and infrastructure were the other areas in which the shift needed to take place, the report said.