Nature & Climate Weekly Brief || 7-14 April 2020

Special Message from Nature4Climate's Chair, Lucy Almond

Dear friends and colleagues, our thoughts are with all of those who are suffering as a result of this global crisis. First and foremost, our message is one of solidarity with these people and communities.

As Earth Day approaches next week, the N4C team has been reflecting on what we can and should be contributing during these trying times. Our answer is to ensure our work focuses on what nature can do for people - how nature-based solutions can help people rebuild their lives, and help nations rebuild their economies, after COVID-19 passes and recovery begins. To that end, we are working on a developing a narrative for both global and domestic audiences that nature-based solutions are economically critical as well as essential for promoting health and restoring balance to the climate. To start, we are collecting relevant source material that can inform this narrative. If you or your organization is working on, or has worked on, any piece of work you think may be relevant to this, please take a moment or two to use the survey below to get in touch with us.

I would also like to draw your attention to the amazing work being done by the Planetary Emergency Group. More than 3,000 thought leaders and scientists have come together to launch an ambitious plan to protect our health, climate and nature. I encourage you to read their open letter and consider showing your support by signing on.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement with this weekly briefing. Please stay safe!

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FEATURED NEWS

Chile to peak emissions by 2025, under strengthened climate pledge

Climate Home News, Megan Darby, 9 April

Climate Home reports that Chile has committed to peaking its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, in an updated national plan presented virtually to the UN climate chief last week. It sets a cap on annual emissions of 95 million tonnes CO2 equivalent by 2030, a substantially stronger target than Chile promised in its 2015 contribution to the Paris Agreement, and slightly stronger than the draft proposal. NRDC offers a good summary of what the new NDC means for natural climate solutions. In short, the NDC doubles the scale of Chile’s previous forest management and reforestation targets and makes them unconditional. It also adds new targets related to forest degradation and landscape restoration. This announcement follows positive signals from both the EU and South Korea that climate action and "green deal" thinking remains a top priority. On a similar note, The Guardian reports that Amsterdam will follow a 'doughnut' model to mend its post-coronavirus economy: "Out with the global attachment to economic growth and laws of supply and demand, and in with the so-called doughnut model devised at Oxford University as a guide to what it means for countries, cities and people to thrive in balance with the planet."

However, it wasn't all good news, as Climate Home also reports that China may wait for the results of the US presidential election in November before it announces an update to its climate plan.

EU weighs new requirements for firms against biodiversity, pandemic risks
Reuters, Francesco Guarascio, 7 April

Reuters reports that the European Commission is considering imposing new environmental restrictions as part of its response to the economic recession spurred by the coronavirus. Ideas such as tying executive pay to carbon reductions and requiring greater disclosure around biodiversity risks. BusinessGreen covers the European Commission's stance on ensuring the future of capital integrating "green" strategies and the call for expert input into the new policies it may develop. Reuters also reports that ten European nations joined together to call for a 'green recovery' plan last Thursday, and Euractiv reports on France and Germany joining the original group ten days after their announcement. Bloomberg shares that European business leaders have joined with policymakers to form a 180 member bloc calling for recovery efforts to focus on implementing the Green Deal. The Guardian reports that BlackRock has been hired by the EU to help develop recommendations for new environmental banking regulations that would be developed in response to the current recession. This announcement sounded alarms amongst the broader environmental community. The World Bank releases a new post calling for the COVID-19 recovery to be focused on recovering our relationship with nature.

As the EU drafts its plans for responding to the economic fallout of the coronavirus The Hill covers the Pope's comments that the coronavirus may be nature's response to human-induced environmental destruction. Media attention continues to focus on scientific evidence linking deforestation to the spread of viruses, a theme that will likely continue in the weeks ahead. TIME covers an interview with Lee Hannah, senior scientist at Conservation International, who says there are four critical facets of pandemic prevention: stockpile masks and respirators; have testing infrastructure ready; ban the global wildlife trade; and take care of nature. Other coverage in: New York Times, NBC, LA Times, The Hill, CBC, and ABC.

UK forests 'could do more harm than good'
BBC, Roger Harrabin, 7 April

BBC writes on a new government report that finds that current plans to plant trees as a climate solution, often in the UK's peat bogs, would release more carbon dioxide than they would sequester. The Independent also covers the report and the advice from the authors that a more careful approach of 'planting the right trees in the right places' would meet the goal of reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide, but requires rigorous monitoring. Confor responds in an official complaint to the BBC stating that no forestry community experts were given a chance to respond and the use of emotive language which could be considered 'sensationalist reporting'.

Wildlife destruction 'not a slippery slope but a series of cliff edges'
The Guardian, Fiona Harvey, 8 April

The Guardian shares the details of a new report warning that the existing biodiversity in the world's oceans and certain landscapes may collapse by the 2020s and 2040s respectively if global warming is left unchecked. EcoWatch writes that 73 percent of the Earth's species would face rising temperatures that put them at risk within the same time frame according to the research. PRI reports on the UN plan for conserving 50 percent of the earth to protect against further biodiversity loss and the Center for Biological Diversity's call for the United States government to declare biodiversity loss a national emergency and to take appropriate action.

Tolkien was right: giant trees have towering role in protecting forests
The Guardian, Jonathan Watts, 9 April

The Guardian reports new scientific research that highlights the importance of "giant, slow-reproducing trees" in maintaining the health of old forests. The findings show these types of trees contribute more than their fair share in carbon sequestration and maintaining biodiversity within their forests. The research supports the need for greater protection these trees and biodiversity more broadly according to the report authors.

Featured Opinion/Commentary

Thinking ahead: For a sustainable recovery from COVID-19
World Bank, Stéphane Hallegatte and Stephen Hammer, 30 March

The Lead Economist and Advisor on Global Partnerships and Strategy at the World Bank share their approach to COVID recovery, which includes a "green stimulus framework." They argue that to respond to the crisis, we do not need to start from scratch. "We can use projects already identified in countries’ national or sectoral masterplans, as well as climate change adaptation plans and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement." The authors go on to argue that restoring degraded forestlands and landscapes could create many jobs over the short term while also generating net benefits worth hundreds of billions of dollars from watershed protection, better crop yields, and forest products.

Want to Help the US Economy? Rethink the Trillion Trees Act
WRI, Alex Rudee, 6 April

In a similar vein, Alex Rudee argues that investing in planting and sustainably managing trees could remove gigatons of carbon dioxide while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs (many more jobs per dollar spent than in carbon-intensive industries like aviation or oil and gas, which have previously been the focus of stimulus discussions).

COVID-19: Nature’s $10 Trillion Dollar Wake Up Call to the Finance Sector
Forest Trends, Andrew Mitchell, 8 April
Andrew Mitchell details how humans' relationship with nature has led to the coronavirus pandemic and why that means the finance sector needs to reinvent itself to maintain Earth’s immune system, and not to degrade it.

Coronavirus has exposed our arrogant relationship with nature
Financial Times, Johannes Vogel, 9 April

Johannes Vogel says that the crises we face today are interconnected and can all be traced back to our abusive relationship with our natural world. The time to change that relationship is now. Tomorrow may be too late.

From this awful nightmare there is one glimmer of hope – maybe we can get a cleaner, healthier planet…
Daily Mail, Geoffrey Lean, 6 April

Geoffrey Lean writes that the cleaner air and water as a result of reduced human activity in response to the coronavirus may "provide a tiny grain of hope, amid the nightmare of so much suffering, for a better, prosperous and more resilient world."

Climate Change Experts: Here’s Why A Virtual COP26 Won’t Work
Forbes, David Vetter, 8 April

Climate negotiations rely on the intricacies and nuances of human interaction that can't be replicated through digital channels according to seasoned COP participants in this piece by Forbes Contributer David Vetter.

China is emerging from the coronavirus crisis as an even more powerful opponent
The Telegraph, William Hague, 6 April

The former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Commons writes, “We cannot solve the world’s problems without China. If we want to prevent catastrophic climate change, as well as promote global health, protect bio-diversity, save the oceans, stop nuclear proliferation, restore a prosperous global economy and prevent dangerous new arms races on Earth and in space, we need the Chinese and they need us."

It’s time to start planting forests (not just trees) to grow Canada’s climate solutions
Corporate Knights, Daimen Hardie, 7 April

The author, co-founder of Community Forests International, says that Canada has a vital opportunity to utilize nature-based solutions to help meet climate goals, but the level of ambition and a focus on planting long-standing forests needs to increase to meet the challenge.

Will the next coronavirus come from Amazonia? Deforestation and the risk of infectious diseases
Mongabay, Philip Fearnside, 8 April

Philip Fearnside writes in Mongabay that the next pandemic the world sees could come from any location where humans are encroaching upon nature, and the Amazon is a likely hotspot for this eventual outcome.

We Need to Change How We Grow Our Food
Medium, by Anne Lappé and Daniel Moss, 8 April

With agriculture leading to 80% of the deforestation that makes events like the coronavirus more likely, Anne Lappé and Daniel Moss share success stories of how we can transform our food systems to protect nature.

Developers of Nature-Based Climate Solutions Can Help Meet the COVID-19 Challenge
Ecosystem Marketplace, by Will Sheldon, 8 April

The Commercial Director of Taking Root explains how the developers of Nature-Based Climate Solutions can help communities meet the COVID-19 challenge.

NCS COMMUNITY SURVEY

Dear readers, from time to time we will be introducing short, informal surveys on topical issues, the results of which we will publish in the following week’s newsletters. We hope this will provide interesting food for thought. No individual responses will be disclosed and all participation will be kept anonymous. We will share the overall results in the next newsletter.

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FEATURED WEBINAR
Science-Based Targets for Nature

Science-based targets for nature are being developed by the Science Based Targets Network. The Network is developing methods and resources to enable companies and cities to set science-based targets for the interrelated “systems" of freshwater, biodiversity, land and the ocean across their value chains. Watch this recorded webinar to learn more about how you can get involved with the development of science-based targets for nature.

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