NEXT GOVERNMENT MUST MAKE NATURE CENTRAL TO TACKLING CLIMATE CRISIS

Next government must make nature central to tackling climate crisis says new WWF report, with charity warning inaction will lead to irreversible climate change.

Nature is a key part of the solution to the climate crisis, according to a new report released by WWF today. The charity describes the lack of ambition to tackle the climate and nature crises as “alarming”, and says countries attending COP25 in Madrid must act with much greater urgency to ensure temperature rise stays below 1.5°C. In the UK, public concern about the environment is at an all time high, and WWF is clear that whoever becomes our next Prime Minister later this week must show global leadership in the fight for our world.

The report, entitled Climate, Nature and our 1.5°C Future, brings together four landmark UN reports published in the past year: the three IPCC special reports published under the 6th Assessment Cycle, and the IPBES global assessment.

Stephen Cornelius, WWF’s Chief Adviser on Climate Change said:

“ As the UK goes to the polls this week, one urgent task facing our next Prime Minister is clear: to show leadership to prevent the climate crisis from becoming an irreversible disaster.”

“The scientists have done their part. Over the past year they have amassed findings that clearly demonstrate the need for limiting warming to 1.5°C and the irreversible change that will happen without greater ambition to cut emissions from fossil fuels and integrate nature-based solutions. Our political, community and business leaders must heed their warnings.”

The analysis shines a spotlight on the detailed picture of how nature is affected by the climate crisis, and how a strong and healthy natural world can help people adapt to climate impacts. It recognises the critical role nature-based solutions play as part of the global response to the climate crisis, since the necessary rapid and deep cuts to global fossil fuel emissions will not be enough.

The worldwide lack of ambition to tackle the climate and nature crises is alarming, and countries meeting at COP25 in Madrid must act now to ensure temperature stays below 1.5°C. Rapid and deep decarbonisation, as well as nature-based solutions to absorb carbon and restore ecosystems, must be part of all countries’ climate plans. Nature can aid climate change mitigation, reduce associated climate risks for vulnerable communities, and help bring about a more sustainable future for all.

Protecting, restoring and managing ecosystems and biodiversity is a sustainable way to improve resilience against climate change risks and ensure that land and oceans can continue to provide food, water and other vital resources to people for years to come.

The report demonstrates how, by saving nature, we boost the chances of staying below 1.5°C and improve the effectiveness of adaptation while laying the foundations for lives that are happy, healthy, culturally enriched and socially connected.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, leader of WWF’s global climate and energy practice said:

“There is no time for debate. Only a dramatic increase in the ambition of our collective response can avert that climate crisis we are in. We need nature to be taken to a new level of political priority globally recognising the interrelationships between nature loss and climate change and the fundamental role of nature in mitigating and adapting to global warming. That is why we are calling for all governments at COP25 to increase nature-based solutions in their national climate plans.”

Dr Anne Larigauderie, IPBES Executive Secretary said:

“Climate change has already impacted nature from the level of ecosystems to that of genetics – with these impacts expected to increase over the coming decades. We welcome this new WWF report as another example of the use of the findings of the IPBES Global Assessment, and another important reminder that protecting our irreplaceable natural assets and our current quality of life requires truly transformative change: fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.”

The report also acknowledges the opportunity coming up in 2020 with world leaders scheduled to take critical decisions on nature, climate and development. WWF and others are calling for them to secure a new deal for nature and people that brings together these related agendas and reverses nature loss by 2030.