Press Statement
Tom Lovejoy, Jane Lubchenco and Bob Watson

The Earth’s Environment is at a Crossroads. Solutions Exist. The Time for Action is Now.
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The health, prosperity, and well-being of people everywhere is at stake. Our future depends onwhether individuals, communities, countries, and the global community take action to be better
stewards of our planet.
Biodiversity is being lost, ecosystems are being degraded, and human-induced climate change
continues, both on the land and in the ocean – all driven by an increasing population coupled withunsustainable consumptions patterns.
Climate change threatens biodiversity and ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity anddegradation of ecosystems in turn affects climate, hence both need to addressed together.
Few if any countries will achieve the majority of the Aichi biodiversity targets, and even if all thepledges of the Paris climate agreement were realized, holding the increase in global averagetemperature to well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels will not be achieved and, without
stronger action, the Earth’s climate is likely to rise by more than 3oC.
Loss of biodiversity and rapid climate change affect people in numerous ways, but especially ourhealth, economies, national security, and opportunities for sustainable development. In short,they determine our well-being and the ability to achieve the seventeen UN Sustainable
Development Goals.
Fortunately, many solutions exist and are beginning to be implemented. However, these solutions
are not yet at the scale needed to affect the global trajectory.
These solutions point to opportunities where changes in awareness, policy, use of technology, andbehavior can safeguard the Earth’s environment while eliminating poverty, ensuring healthy
lives, and achieving food, water and energy security for all.
The time for action is now.

There is no doubt that the Earth’s environment is at a crossroads and that the time for action is now. We
know that policies and technologies exist to safeguard the environment that are cost effective and sociallyacceptable, but the question is whether there is the public and political will to address them.
Biodiversity continues to be lost at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels in both marine and terrestrial
systems at unprecedented rates. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide now exceeds over400ppmv and 2017 was the warmest year on record, with an ever increasing number of extreme weatherevents.
In the last few years there have been a series of monumental political agreements that should beapplauded: (i) the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi targets; (ii) the Paris Agreement for Climate
Change; and (iii) the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Each represents very positive efforts toaddress the complex problems.
The seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals, which apply to all countries, would, if implementedin an integrated fashion by all countries, allow the world to develop in a socially, environmentally andeconomically sustainable manner. They cover the full range of critical issues ranging from climatechange and terrestrial and marine biodiversity, to food, water and energy security, human health, gender,
sustainable production and consumption, and peace and security.

The problem is that while Governments have pledged to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystems throughthe twenty Aichi targets, and to limit human-induced climate change to less than 2oC relative to preindustrial levels, their individual and collective actions are totally inadequate and, without stronger
actions, these aspirational targets will not be met.
We believe there are untapped opportunities to help citizens, business leaders, political leaders and others
be more aware of the reasons why stronger action will benefit them and the actions that would achieve theresults needed. One key point is that the loss of biodiversity and human-induced climate are much morethan environmental issues; they are also social, economic, security and development issues. The
continued loss of biodiversity and a changing climate will undermine the ability of all countries to achieve
most of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Biodiversity and ecosystems provide essential life-support services that people often take for granted. For
example, they provide benefits like food, fiber, clean water, and medicines; they regulate floods, air andwater quality, pollination, and the Earth’s climate. Biodiversity and ecosystems also have strong cultural
importance for many societies through learning and inspiration, physical and psychological experiences,
and a sense of place. Both human-induced climate change and loss of biodiversity threaten (1) food andwater supplies; (2) human health through heat stress, vector- and water-borne diseases; (3) coastal
communities due to sea level rise and loss of mangroves, kelp forests or coral reefs which can help absorb
storm surge; and (4) social cohesion and peace. In other words, the loss of biodiversity and humaninduced climate change are issues central to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Another key point is that viable solutions exist to mitigate and adapt to these threats to human well-being.
There is no doubt that the world can move to a low-carbon economy by transitioning the production ofenergy from a fossil fuel economy based on coal, oil and gas to one based primarily on renewable energy
technologies, together with a more efficient use of energy in the buildings, transportation and industry
sectors. The cost of renewable energy technologies, especially solar and wind, have decreased drasticallyin the last decade, which coupled together with significant advances in storage technologies enhance theutility of intermittent renewable energy sources of energy. These advances, mean that energy emissionsof carbon dioxide can be drastically reduced over the next few decades.
However, to reach the aspirational goals of the Paris climate agreement, i.e., “to hold the increase inglobal average temperature to well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit thetemperature increase to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels”, will require Governments to significantly
strengthen their commitments. Businesses and citizens have key roles to play, both in taking action
themselves and in supporting stronger action by their governments. Actions to reduce energy emissionsof carbon dioxide need to be coupled with reductions in agricultural emissions of methane and nitrous
oxide, and emissions of carbon dioxide associated with deforestation.
Sustainable fisheries are key to food security as well as healthy, delicious food. Current unsustainablelevels and methods of fishing are destroying the capacity of the ocean to produce abundant seafood.
Recent experiences have demonstrated that if fisheries are reformed in an enlightened fashion, depleted
fisheries can be rebuilt and can produce much greater amounts of fish than are currently caught. Smartfishery policies can result in more seafood on plates, higher profits and healthier ocean ecosystems. Thekeys to successful fishery policies are well understood but need to be implemented. The creation of fully
protected marine parks is a proven complement to fishery reform and is vital to protecting biodiversity
and habitats as well as providing resilience to climate changes.
Reducing the rate of deforestation and restoration of degraded ecosystems are not only essential for
limiting human-induced climate change but also for reducing the loss of biodiversity. Biodiversity andecosystems can be protected through the establishment of terrestrial and marine protected areas, andmainstreaming biodiversity concerns into agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture using a wide
range of legal and regulatory, rights-based, economic and financial, and social and cultural policy
instruments. Success will require using an integrated approach cutting across different policy sectors, theinvolvement of the full range of stakeholders, and innovative governance strategies.
Time is not on our side. If we fail to act now, future generations will inherit a much poorer world, andwill wonder why we pillaged the environment with no forethought for them when socially andeconomically acceptable policies, technologies and practices were available.