Without nature’s help, we will not thrive or even survive. For too long, we have been waging a senseless and suicidal war on nature. The result is three interlinked environmental crises. Climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution that threaten our viability as a species. They are caused by unsustainable production and consumption,” stated UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the launch of the United Nations Environment Program report ‘Making Peace With Nature’ on 18th February.
The major recommendations contained in the report include the following:
– Recognize that climate change, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution of air and water are related and must be tackled together.
– Start factoring the true environmental and social costs of our activities into the prices of goods and services.
– Stop subsidizing fossil fuels and invest instead in low-carbon, nature-friendly technologies.
– Use water more efficiently, clean it up and restore watersheds and the natural flow of rivers and streams.
– Produce food in ways that work with nature, instead of destroying forests and degrading soil, and which adapt to climate change.
– Realize that human health cannot be unlinked from the health of the planet’s ecosystems, and behave accordingly.
The report goes on to warn that “The costs of inaction on limiting environmental change far outweigh the costs of action.”