The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2021 - 2030 the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration. The aim of the decade is to drive action to reverse the degradation of ecosystems that is leading to the massive loss of wildlife in all regions of the world, both on land and at sea.
We are facing a sixth mass extinction caused by human actions.
35,500 species are threatened with extinction, including 40% of amphibia, 26% of mammals, 34% of conifers and 14% of birds. Most, if not all large mammals face extinction unless climate change and ecosystem destruction can be reversed. Human beings are large mammals.
With growing urbanisation worldwide, people are becoming isolated from nature and know little about it. Yet we are dependent on the very nature we are thoughtlessly destroying in the name of progress. Nature is our life support system, it provides the air we breathe, the clean water we drink, the food we eat. Nature supports our well being and is a source of inspiration. We could not survive on Earth without nature.
Human beings need to reconnect with nature, to understand its importance in our lives and to value it in itself, not in monetary terms. In truth nature is priceless and we are squandering it and putting our collective future at risk.
Our last chance
This decade to come is our last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change and the irreversible loss of our beautiful and diverse natural world.
As a contribution to this, the Green Party’s Wildlife & Habitats policy group has organised a panel discussion at our Spring Conference. The panel will discuss the question:
‘is the regeneration of nature more important than acting on the climate emergency?’
The panelists are Mya-Rose Craig, also known as ‘Bird Girl’, Craig Bennett, CEO of the Wildlife Trusts, Mark Avery, wildlife campaigner, and Charles Eisenstein, American author and eco-philosopher.
The event, chaired by Baroness Natalie Bennett, is on Saturday 27 February, 3.30 - 4.45. To attend, register for the Conference which will be held via Zoom. [https://members.greenparty.org.uk/taxonomy/term/60]
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