It can be hard to find hope these days for the future of our species–not to mention the other million species threatened with extinction.
Post-pandemic greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise, and the world is currently on track for a nightmarish 2.4 to 2.6 C warming this century.
Even if we succeed in the Herculean task of cutting emissions in half by 2030 and keeping global heating below 1.5 C, we can still expect frequent and widespread climate-caused heatwaves, floods, and human displacement and disease in our collective future.
And there are concerning indications that climate aspirations are waning: last week the Canadian government celebrated a 1.8 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions as “climate progress.”
On the nature front, the news isn’t much better.
The World Wildlife Fund’s recent Living Planet Report showed that wildlife populations are down 70 per cent since 1970. In Canada, a comprehensive analysis identified 5,000 species at risk of extinction.
Habitat destruction continues apace at home and globally—three-quarters of grasslands and wetlands in southern Canada have been destroyed, and our country ranks third in intact forest loss, behind only Brazil and Russia.
Finally, unabated overconsumption, linked to deep social and economic inequities, is driving planetary destruction: the wealthiest one per cent cause twice the emissions of the poorest 50 per cent, while the latter bear the brunt of climate disasters.
Yet despite all the gloom, I believe that there are at least five signs of hope—in Canada and globally—that suggest that we have an opportunity to turn the tide on climate change and biodiversity loss.
First, countries are recognizing that nature is a powerful and necessary ally in tackling climate change.
Nature already absorbs 25 per cent of carbon emitted globally, and so-called “nature-based climate solutions,”—protecting, restoring and better managing forests, wetlands, grasslands and coastal areas—have the potential to sequester an additional five billion tonnes a year by 2030.
Countries are also setting bold goals to protect nature.
At COP15 (the recent U.N. biodiversity conference), 190 countries signed on to the Kunming-Montreal agreement to protect 30 per cent of global lands and waters—and to halt and reverse nature loss—by 2030. (For a sense of scale, protecting 30 per cent of land in Canada is the equivalent of protecting an area the size of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined.)
But nature is only a viable climate solution if its protection is in addition to—not a substitute for—the rapid transition away from fossil fuels. And nature-based solutions are only ethical if aligned with, and respectful of, Indigenous rights and title of land.
Second, countries around the world have committed to developing action plans—this year or next-–to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
These action plans have the potential to be transformative: one key commitment in the Kunming-Montreal agreement is to phase out government subsidies that are harmful to nature. Currently countries spend almost $2 trillion a year funneling subsidies to the farming, fishing and forestry industries that cause damage to nature. Phasing these out would not only immediately reduce harm to valuable ecosystems, it would create a new pool of funding to support climate action and nature-based solutions, including Indigenous-led conservation.
This leads to a third reason for hope: the growing commitment to—and investment in—Indigenous-led protection and restoration of nature. We cannot address nature loss and climate change without the leadership of Indigenous peoples, who steward 80 per cent of Earth’s remaining biodiversity.
While Canada has been too slow to provide adequate and permanent funding for Indigenous-led protection and restoration, there have been important steps forward in recent months. At COP15 the federal government announced four new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) that will protect an area larger than the province of B.C. The government also made two major Pacific Ocean protection announcements in February: the massive Tang.ɢwan-ḥačxʷiqak-Tsig̱is marine protected area, an area four times the size of Vancouver Island, and an action plan for protecting the Northern Shelf Bioregion in B.C., a marine area that stretches from Vancouver Island to Alaska.
A fourth reason for hope relates to growing action to protect forests—including Canada’s massive and carbon-rich boreal forest—from human-caused degradation.
In 2021, 145 countries, including Canada, signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use, committing to end deforestation and land degradation by 2030.
More recently, large importers of wood from boreal and tropical forests have stepped up action to prevent degradation and deforestation.
The European Union recently passed a law to ban the import of forest products linked to deforestation and forest degradation, and U.S. states have proposed similar laws.
Lamentably the government of Canada has opposed these laws, and it seems intent on trying to argue that logging in Canada is “sustainable”, despite the massive (and unreported) carbon emissions associated with clearcut logging of primary forests, and the harm logging causes to the habitats of numerous threatened species, including the iconic Woodland Caribou.
Nevertheless, with growing market pressure, it is likely only a matter of time until countries and companies recognize that it is in their economic and environmental interest to transition logging to more climate- and nature-friendly practices.
The fifth and final reason for hope has to do with all of us: together we have the power to bring humans back into balance with nature.
Again and again in my lifetime groups have organized successfully to win transformation policy changes that have made our world more humane, just and sustainable.
Movements for civil rights, peace, gay rights, women’s rights and disability rights—led by a relatively small number of dedicated activists—have won far-reaching improvements to the lives of millions. And more recent—and diverse—movements, like Idle No More, Black Lives Matter and #MeTOO, have expanded justice and human rights even further.
Today there is a growing recognition that non-human species have rights too. Last year, at COP15, 200 countries signed a non-binding agreement to recognize and promote both human rights and the rights of nature, and countries around the world are increasingly recognizing the rights of non-human species.
A movement to honour and protect non-human species can also win transformative change.
The first Earth Day, held in the U.S. in 1970, put the environment on the national political agenda and led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act and numerous other health and environmental protection initiatives.
Since then there have been other environmental successes – including the Montreal Protocol in 1987 which was effective to stop the destruction of the ozone layer. There have also been successes in bringing species back from the brink of extinction, such as the red kite and American Bison.
In sum, we must face the fact that our planet’s situation is dire. Yet we must also recognize the opportunities for change.
In recent years, governments, including our own, have made real commitments to protect nature, halt nature loss and expand human rights. They have done so because people have demanded it.
This Earth Day, let’s remember: nature lovers are in the majority; we have power; and together we can build an equitable and compassionate world for all people—and the millions of species with whom we share our home.
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