Nature and Biodiversity
A world on the edge
Our exploitation of the natural world, its animals, its landscapes is unsustainable. We need urgently to arrest the terrifying decline in the numbers of insects and other wildlife; restore life to oceans, rivers and soil; and repair the damage done to rainforests and other natural landscapes. We have to wake to the most vital of all facts: that everything we rely derives from the natural world.
ARTICLES
10 ways the climate crisis and nature loss are linked. By Phoebe Weston, Guardian (November 29, 2023). The natural world is caught in a vicious cycle – extreme weather is destroying natural habitats and wildlife, yet these are crucial to fighting the climate crisis.
BOOKS
Climate: A New Story by Charles Eisenstein
With passion, research and insight, Charles Eisenstein details how the quantification of the natural world leads to a lack of integration and our “fight” mentality. The rivers, forests, and creatures of the natural and material world are sacred; they are valuable in their own right, not simply for carbon credits or preventing the extinction of one species versus another. Seeing the bigger picture of how everything - from prison reform to saving the whales - can contribute to our planetary ecological health, we resist reflexive postures of solution and blame and reach toward the deep place where commitment lives.
FILMS
Extinction: The Facts. BBC, October 9, 2020.
With a million species at risk of extinction, David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, including putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases.
Joanna Macy - The Hidden Promise of Our Dark Age. Bioneers (August 23, 2018). One of the great activists and spiritual teachers of our era, Joanna Macy, brings a hopeful message: If we can free ourselves from the delusions and dependencies bred by the “industrial growth society,” something wonderful can happen. If we manage to steer clear of panic, we may well find, at last, the wild power of our creativity and solidarity. Introduction by Nina Simons, Co-Founder of Bioneers. This speech was given at the 2009 National Bioneers Conference.
REPORTS
The Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) is the preparation of a periodic report on biological diversity by the Convention on Biological Diversity. The fifth edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-5) is a final report card on progress against the 20 global biodiversity targets agreed in 2010 with a 2020 deadline, and offers lessons learned and best practices for getting on track. Towards a landmark new global post-2020 biodiversity framework: GBO-5 synthesizes scientific basis for urgent action.
The role of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services assess knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services - and their interlinkages at the global level. The Global Assessment Report is only one of a number of valuable documents including Land Degradation and Restoration, and Invasive Alien Species and their Control.
Making Peace with Nature. By UN Environment Programme, February 18, 2021.
Making Peace With Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies is UNEP’s first synthesis report. Turning scientific knowledge into clear, crisp, digestible fact-based messages, the report look at how climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can be tackled jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. By synthesizing the latest scientific findings from the global environmental assessments, the report communicates the current status of the world’s urgent issues and opportunities to solve them.