Scientists Warn That Global Policies Need to be ‘Nature-Positive’

(MOMBASA, Kenya) — Scientists around the world are warning governments who will be gathering in Montreal this week for the United Nations biodiversity summit to not repeat past mistakes and are urging officials to “avoid trade-offs” between people and conservation needs in a report Monday. The study published in the One Earth Journal found that even though there has been an increase in investment in conservation over the last three decades governments “have not succeeded in bending the curve on biodiversity decline.” The conference known as COP15, which begins Tuesday, hopes to set the goals for the world for the next decade to help conserve the planet’s biodiversity and stem the loss of nature. So far the world has failed to meet goals set at previous meetings. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The scientists proposed six areas for action for delegates working toward what’s known as the global biodiversity framework. They include greater involvement of local communities and addressing both direct causes of nature decline such as the destruction of land and habitats as well as indirect causes such as climate change. In the report scientists repeatedly called for officials to be “nature and people positive” in their approach, highlighting the need for solutions that are realistic and have support from local communities in order to best protect nature. Instead of conserving areas by making them inaccessible to loc...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change healthscienceclimate Nature & Science wire Source Type: news