Let nature heal climate and biodiversity crises, say campaigners
The restoration of natural forests and coasts can simultaneously tackle climate
change and the annihilation of wildlife but is being worryingly overlooked, an
international group of campaigners have said. Animal populations
have fallen
by 60% since 1970, suggesting a sixth
mass extinction of life on Earth is under way, and it is very likely
that carbon dioxide will have to be removed from the atmosphere to avoid the
worst impacts of global warming. Trees and plants suck carbon dioxide from the
air as they grow and also provide vital habitat for animals.
“The world faces two
existential crises, developing with terrifying speed: climate breakdown and
ecological breakdown,” the group writes
in a letter to the Guardian. “Neither is being addressed with the urgency
needed to prevent our life-support systems from spiralling into collapse. “We are championing a thrilling but neglected
approach to averting climate chaos while defending the living world: natural
climate solutions. Defending the living world and defending the climate are, in
many cases, one and the same.”
The signatories
include the school strikes activist Greta Thunberg, the climate scientist Prof
Michael Mann, the writers Margaret Atwood, Naomi Klein and Philip Pullman and
the campaigners Bill McKibben and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Rowan Williams, the former
archbishop of Canterbury, Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the
Maldives, and the musician Brian Eno are also among the signatories of the
letter, which was instigated by the Guardian writer George Monbiot.
The group emphasises
that natural climate solutions are not an alternative to the rapid
decarbonisation of energy, transport and farming. Both are needed, the
campaigners say... read more:
