[ad_1]
FFifty years ago today, the first Earth Day was marked in the United States as a peaceful call for environmental reform, following a massive oil spill off the California coast. Half a century later, this annual day unites millions worldwide, drawing attention to the enormous challenges facing our planet.
Now more than ever, Earth Day offers an opportunity for all of us to reflect on our relationship with the planet, in the midst of the most powerful message possible that nature can surprise us at any moment, with devastating consequences for almost everyone. It is a time when the health of the planet and its people has never been so important.
This year was very promising for environmental change as a result of increasing pressure for concerted and urgent actions and with a set of international conferences aimed at refocusing global commitment on these key issues. The link between nature, climate and sustainable development materialized in 2020. The year offered hope.
There was much talk of nature as the bridge between biodiversity and climate crises, of nature-based solutions such as afforestation, peatland restoration and mangrove protection as responses to some of the challenges we face today, and support for sustainable natural capital. development and human well-being.
We are in an era of extinction and at the point where irreversible environmental damage could be generated. Despite the changed plans, we cannot afford to miss a beat or focus. The challenge of the biodiversity and climate crisis will continue to be present when the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted; The ambition of COP15 and COP26 must be carried forward and developed in 2021.
Right now, it can be hard not to feel downcast, but there are outbreaks of optimism. After the blockades, we can see a greater appreciation of nature in many countries around the world. From China to Spain, people of all ages are missing what they didn’t know they would miss until they couldn’t have it: craving open spaces; realize the health and wellness benefits of accessing nature; And, in many countries, spring blossoming is lacking.
Some improvements in pollution levels have been observed in countries with restricted movements of people and the closure of factories and companies. Can we balance our need for reopening and our desire to travel while reducing the footprint of these types of activities?
Communities come together to support each other, even in large metropolises like London, which are often perceived as hostile and cold. Can we take advantage of this spirit to search for those who are furthest from home and the planet that supports us all when the coronavirus becomes a distant memory?
A poster to commemorate the first Earth Day featured the quote: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Fifty years later, will this be the year that we collectively stop taking the planet for granted, degrading and exploiting its resources? Now, too, will we realize how vulnerable a species really is?
I hope that through our experience of this pandemic, we learn that it is much better to prevent a global problem when we see it on the horizon than to have to deal with it when it surrounds us. This is a lesson we must apply to the challenge of climate change, which also threatens hundreds of millions of people, as well as to listen and listen to the experts. We must also recognize that global challenges require globally coordinated responses.
By the end of the year, we will still have a decade to meet the sustainable development goals, and the biodiversity and climate change POPs, along with other key international meetings, will be rescheduled.
Crucially, a window of opportunity opens to ensure that the economic recovery plans that countries adopt after emerging from this crisis are firmly “green.” Long-term investment and sustainable economic growth plans should drive climate projects and environmental change. We need nature more than ever, as a solution, as a resource, for a respite and for life on Earth.
Looking ahead, opportunities are emerging from this pandemic that, if seized, could set the stage for a more fruitful “super year” 2021. We must stop being enemies of nature and instead become friends with it.
Richard Deverell is director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
