(CU)_Slashing greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit global warming to well below 2°C is at the heart of the UN climate summit, which looks to meet the commitments made by global leaders under the Paris agreement back in 2015. However, COP26 People’s Advocate Sir David Attenborough is of the view that it is imperative for us to devote greater focus on “extraordinary powers” of nature to protect us from extreme weather conditions, which the global community has been encountering over the recent years.
In a short film made by The Wildlife Trusts, the English broadcaster said: “We know that we need to stop burning fossil fuels, but we must also recognise the role of nature in helping us turn the tide.”
“We must bring wildlife and wild places back on an ambitious scale, in turn creating new livelihoods and protecting the planet for future generations. Our lives depend on it,” he added.
According to Sir David, with nearly half of United Kingdom’s wildlife in decline and some of the nation’s best-loved species facing the risk of extinction, we have allowed out natural world to reach breaking point. “As the climate emergency intensifies, the threat to life on earth becomes ever greater. But we have the choice of a better – and wilder – future. A future where wildlife thrives alongside people. A future where nature helps us in the fight against climate change,” he noted.
Research findings of The Wildlife Trusts, which were published before chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spending review on Wednesday (27 October), showed that an extra £1.2 billion must be spent by the government every year in order to halt the decline of wildlife in the UK. Meanwhile, the Wildlife and Countryside Link, England’s biggest nature coalition, estimates that by spending an extra spend of £5.5 billion on greater access to improved nature over the next 3 years could result in creating 40,000 new jobs, generating healthcare benefits worth £200 billion and providing 3,500 deprived communities with greater access green spaces.
“For decades, The Wildlife Trusts have been leading the way to put nature into recovery; bringing back precious saltmarsh and peatlands; and reintroducing beavers, our natural water engineers. But we can’t do it alone,” Sir David said in the short film. “It’s not too late to win the fight against the climate and nature crisis. Given the chance, nature can recover in the most remarkable ways. But we need to act quickly. The time is now to create a wilder future.”
