A paper – “Integrating biodiversity targets from local to global levels: A shared earth and ocean approach linking biodiversity and people – for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework”- has just been released in this week’s issue of Science Magazine.
In this paper, African scientists, conservationists and community leaders present a ‘shared earth, shared ocean’ framework to guide the repair of humanity’s relationship with nature. They focus attention on connecting people with nature in the places where they live. In these places, natural spaces should be retained or restored to cover 20% of all areas locally, in order to benefit people fully, as well as contribute to global conservation targets. Conservation actions in more intact, remote wilderness areas, and in cities, are also supported by the framework, with a focus on equitable roles as well as cost and benefit sharing.
‘We have seen conservation action focused in only the most intact and pristine locations, in Africa and across the globe, but neglecting the places where many people need it most – around their farms and homes”, said lead author David Obura, Director at Coastal Oceans Research and Development in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO East Africa) and a member of the Earth Commission. “While we need intact and untouched nature in as much area of land and ocean as possible, the neglect of natural systems in ‘working’ or ‘shared’ land and seascapes has led not only to avoidable losses, but also to great hardship to millions of people, many of them poor, who lose access to basic benefits such as water filtration, pollination for their crops and wild plants and animals their cultures traditionally used and valued”.
- Read the Press Release from CORDIO East Africa and Africa CSO Biodiversity Alliance
- Download the Policy Brief
- Read Science Magazine article
