Ana Tiraa, Director of Climate Change Cook Islands and representative of Te Ipukarea Society, an IUCN Member, discusses nature’s role in successful climate adaptation and mitigation.
Photo: Ana TiraaKia Orana or Greetings. When we say Kia Orana it literally means “may you live long”. This is what we want: a healthy planet to live long.
In 2015, the international community agreed to resolve climate change by mobilizing stakeholders to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen societies’ ability to deal with the impacts of climate change, and achieve climate neutrality by the end of the century. On Earth Day 2016, 175 countries signed the Paris climate agreement at a historic ceremony in New York. Immediately afterwards, 15 countries, mostly small island developing states, ratified the agreement.
The world desperately needed this historic agreement. Now it’s time for the world to move it into action. Nature stands ready to help.
The Paris Agreement clearly acknowledges the importance of the role of forests, oceans and other natural ecosystems in absorbing carbon emissions and helping nations adapt to the changing climate. While these nature-based solutions cannot solve the climate problem alone, they are essential to achieving climate and sustainable development goals and often have broader social and environmental benefits.
Terrestrial ecosystems, such as tropical forests or peatlands, store three times the amount of carbon found in the atmosphere. Forest and landscape restoration and halting deforestation are integral to protecting forests’ ability to sequester carbon.
Marine ecosystems are another excellent example. Ocean vegetation, including mangroves, tidal marshes, sea grasses and sea weed absorb about thirty per cent of all man-made carbon. Protecting and restoring the world’s oceans is critically important for stabilising the climate and achieving food security for the billions of people who rely on fish as their primary source of protein.
Healthy ecosystems also help vulnerable communities, especially those who depend on natural resources, to better adapt and be more resilient to the adverse effects of climate change. They also provide a suite of benefits and services that economies, communities and wildlife cannot thrive without.
Nature-based solutions are a sustainable and cost-effective way to mitigate and adapt to climate change, secure water, food and energy supplies, reduce poverty and drive economic growth. They are an integral part of a lasting climate solution.
The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016 is one of the first major opportunities since the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris for high-level decision-makers from government and business to meet with climate and natural science experts to discuss and decide how we can move the Paris Agreement into action.
Over the 10-day Congress, IUCN’s 1300+ membership will present the latest conservation tools and knowledge, offering many nature-based solutions to climate change and other global environmental and sustainable development issues.
We all need to be part of this critically important discussion and decision-making around putting the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Agenda into action. I hope to see you there.
