October 30, 2024

Making peace with nature will create a more stable world

topic:	Conservation
tags:	#biodiversity loss, #COP16, #peacebuilding
located:	Colombia, Kazakhstan, Ecuador
by:	Midori Paxton

Across the globe, humanity’s relationship with nature is at breaking point. As director of nature at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), I see evidence of this every day: from rising levels of deforestation and record droughts in the Amazon to wildfires and intense storms such as Hurricane Milton and a sixth mass extinction marked by a 73 per cent decline in wildlife population sizes over the past 50 years.

This is not only an environmental issue. Biodiversity loss, combined with climate change, acts as a "threat multiplier," reducing available natural resources, increasing vulnerabilities and exacerbating existing security challenges and conflicts. Over the last 60 years, at least 40 per cent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources.

Without a concerted effort to restore peace with nature, we risk a far more insecure future for ourselves. The loss of critical ecosystems and natural resources threatens the very equilibrium that makes human existence itself possible.

The UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia is the first since the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which joins the Paris Agreement as an internationally agreed action plan to fix our relationship with nature and chart a nature-positive course for humanity. 

It is therefore a critical opportunity for the international community to make actionable commitments towards achieving peace with nature and build a more balanced and harmonious future for all life on earth.

Rediscovering Nature’s Role

In the first instance, this means making peace with the indispensable role of nature at the heart of human development.

The current disconnection between our daily lives and the ecosystems that support them creates apathy. If we fail to value plankton in our oceans, the parks in our cities and the pollinators of our vegetables in our markets, we cannot feel urgency to defend them.

It is human nature to rush to protect what we care about most – and nature’s value to their lives, hopes and health must be far better known to be included. We must work to reconnect people with their environments, fostering reasons for stewardship that transcends generations.

Indigenous Peoples, local communities and traditional knowledge have a vital part to play in fully valuing nature. Indigenous Peoples have long practiced sustainable stewardship of their lands. Their knowledge and practices offer invaluable lessons that can guide us toward a harmonious coexistence with nature. 

Secondly, countries must ensure that financial systems also make peace with nature and are incentivised to protect rather than erode natural capital.

Our global economic and financial systems must enable sustainable practices and increasingly make them the default for all, whether in agriculture, urban planning or resource management.

For example, financial incentives can be transformed to favour investment in local, sustainable agriculture, fishing or tourism, ensuring that the food we eat, the money we earn, and the environment we live in are more closely connected. Urban planning can prioritise green spaces and biodiversity, transforming our cities into living ecosystems that harmonise with nature rather than compete with it. 

Multiple finance solutions and a new environmental code for Kazakhstan, for example, have included a host of mechanisms that will help protect and restore the country’s nature, leading to finance results exceeding USD 30 million. 

Finally, countries can benefit from adopting policies and practices that enshrine peace with nature. Some have already taken such steps, such as New Zealand, where the Whanganui river has the same legal status as a living entity, and Ecuador, where a cloud forest has been granted legal personhood – changes that provide new tools to defend against exploitative decisions.

Peacebuilding through Ecological Cooperation

As these changes are implemented, they play a peacebuilding role. Community-driven and cross-border collaborations to manage natural resources as awareness rises of its intact or protected value can enhance social cohesion within local populations and between countries. Such cooperation has been shown to reduce regional tensions by up to 50 per cent in some regions. This builds a foundation for peaceful relations, regional stability and conflict resolution, as well as a strong business case: for every $1 spent on prevention saves up to an average of $16 in costs associated with conflict.

UNDP’s Nature Pledge offers a framework for enabling countries to make peace with nature to support the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. But it requires the political will of all countries to correct our current unsustainable levels of consumption and use of the natural world. 

Humanity’s relationship with nature may be on the brink - but all is not yet lost. With concerted global efforts, a harmonious relationship with nature can drive future jobs, opportunities, development, economic gains, equity, resilience, cultural richness and a higher quality of life for all. 

Let us harness the spirit of cooperation found between 196 countries at COP15 to commit to this major global agreement and pursue peace with nature. Together, we can navigate towards a nature-positive future where harmony with nature is a living reality, ensuring that both people and the planet thrive for generations to come.

Midori Paxton is Director of the Nature Hub at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Image by Larm Rmah.