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Tuesday 7 May 2019

Countering mass extinction: we need a Green New Deal plus action on biodiversity

For the last twenty-four house, the media has been full of the latest UN Global Assessment Report:
Nature crisis: Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction' - BBC News
Humans are driving one million species to extinction - Nature
U.N. biodiversity report says 1 million species face extinction - The Washington Post
A Quarter Of All Species Are Threatened With Extinction Due To Human Activity [Infographic] - Forbes
Learning With: ‘Civilization Is Accelerating Extinction and Altering the Natural World at a Pace ‘Unprecedented in Human History’ - The New York Times

What can we do about it?

Individuals can do something about it:
'Still time to act' and save millions of animals facing extinction: Report

As can particular industries:
New UN Report on Species Extinction Highlights Need for Fishing Reform | Environmental Defense Fund

As can governments:
Macron: France will step up fight against species extinction | News | DW | 06.05.2019

As says today's Guardian:

Government leaders must press this issue by raising it personally instead of leaving it to ministers; Emmanuel Macron has pledged to do so when he hosts the G7 summit this year. They should start now: next autumn, countries will meet in China for a UN conference on biodiversity, setting new targets. There has been shamefully slow progress towards the existing ones, drawn up in Japan in 2010, though there have been some successes. The US never even ratified the convention on biological diversity, hindering its chances of gaining traction. The best hope of progress there is perhaps through a version of a Green New Deal incorporating biodiversity.

There are already signs of a shift in thinking. A new OECD report makes a bold call for taxes on wildlife-degrading companies, and the diversion of finance to biodiversity-boosting projects rather than damaging ones; fossil fuel companies and agribusiness continue to receive vast subsidies. Many believe a more radical rethinking of our economic model is needed.

Real change will require a depth of imagination, ambition and sheer determination which humans have historically struggled to muster. Yet if we cannot summon the required concern for a million species, we could at least focus on one: our own. We may not be charmed by Earth’s 5.5 million insect species, but we need them to pollinate crops, disperse seeds and break down waste to enrich the soil. Through ignorance, greed, laziness and simple lack of attention we are wiping out the very creatures upon whom we ourselves depend. 


The Guardian view on extinction: time to rebel | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian

See also:
Futures Forum: Britain needs a green new deal
Futures Forum: Climate change > a Green New Deal for the UK?
Futures Forum: The Green New Deal
Futures Forum: The Blue New Deal from the New Economics Foundation >>> formal launch of 'action plan to deliver jobs and economic prosperity to coastal regions'

And:
Futures Forum: Campaign to change the law to ensure every new house has 'Swift bricks' > encouraging results
Futures Forum: Turn your lawn into a meadow
Futures Forum: "The countryside should not be a peaceful place. It should be humming with activity. While it’s hard to sometimes avoid humans, the real racket should be insects."
Futures Forum: MammalWeb > the citizen science project inviting people to help build a better understanding of the UK’s mammals through camera trapping
Futures Forum: Latest results from Butterfly Conservation's monitoring scheme
Futures Forum: SeaLegacy: turning the tide for our oceans
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