Protecting biodiversity: Be part of the plan to save the planet |

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

UN News: Dr. Cooper, today as we observe the International Day for Biological Diversity, is it OK to say “Happy Biodiversity Day”? How do you feel about the current state of nature? 

David Cooper: This is a very good question. Biodiversity is under threat. The diversity of plants, animals, microorganisms, and interactions between these is incredibly important. It underpins the function of ecosystems which then deliver for us food, clean water. It helps also to protect us against natural disasters. 

Unfortunately, we are losing biodiversity. We’ve been losing biodiversity over the last 50 years, at greater rates than ever before. And this is due to a range of factors. The biggest driver of biodiversity loss, particularly on land, is land use change. Food and agriculture systems are important factors, there also development, urbanization and so on

There is fragmentation as we build highways and other communication infrastructure. 

The next biggest threat is overexploitation, particularly in the ocean: overfishing. but also overhunting and overharvesting of plants as well. 

Climate change is increasingly a threat. And the scientific projections show that in the decades to come it will become the biggest threat in fact.

And there are other problems caused by pollution. A whole range of issues there, including from the overuse of nutrients, overuse of fertilizers, but also waste from cities, pesticides, and now increasingly, of course, plastic pollution.

And then, finally, invasive alien species. The species that don’t belong to the place where they may have gotten through trade or travel. They moved from one place to another where they don’t have their natural predators or other natural enemies and they can disrupt ecosystems. 

UN News: Out of those species that are under threat, which are of the most concern?

David Cooper: It tends to be the larger organisms that are affected, the large mammals in particular. Partly because they need large areas in the landscape. And as the landscape gets converted or fragmented, they’re influenced. But also, because they may be the target of hunting or consumption and so on.

Increasingly, we’re seeing a whole range of species become threatened. Particularly threatened right now are amphibians, especially in a number of tropical areas, through a combination of land use change, climate change, but also diseases. Diseases that spread from one part of the world to another and affect populations that are not immune, that don’t have the immunity to these diseases. 

But another major category that’s really threatened, is our coral reefs. If we’re thinking of a sort of a community or ecosystem, they are one of the most threatened because of climate change interacting with coastal development, overfishing and temperatures increase. They become more and more threatened, and in fact this is one of the emblematic if we are looking at climate action. We are losing coral reefs through coral bleaching and other problems related to climate change. 

With 1.5° Celsius change, coral reefs are going to be severely harmed. But with two degrees change or more, the projections are they could be wiped out for many, many parts of the world. 

Now we’re seeing many insect species also being threatened for instance, and some of these are really important. For example, pollinators that are responsible for pollinating most nutritious crops. The fruits and the vegetables that contribute to our diets, already for those animal pollinated crops, the yield potential, the production potential is one third less than it could be because of declines in the abundance and in the diversity of pollinators.

IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, estimate that unless we take action urgently, a million species could be threatened. 

UN News: What tools are there to take those actions? How are those mechanisms are implemented? What, in particular, is the Kunming-Montreal framework? 

David Cooper:  Global Biodiversity Framework is the world’s plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It was adopted under the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022 in Montreal. It includes four major goals to conserve, restore nature, to prosper with nature and to benefit from nature’s contributions, to share benefits fairly and then to invest and collaborate for nature. We call this the Biodiversity Plan.  To achieve those four big goals, there are 23 more precise action targets and these are very ambitious targets for 2030, the targets to address the drivers of biodiversity loss. 

The challenge is to implement it all. So these are some key tools. Then of course they have to be translated at the national level. You have there economic instruments, incentives, you have regulatory approaches. 

What we know, is there is good evidence that if you take action, if governments and actors take action, you can make a difference. You can reverse these trends, and there are a number of examples of that. Perhaps one very obvious one is the reversal and the reduction in the rate of deforestation in Brazil, since they’ve reinstated policies to address deforestation in the Amazon. 

There’s another end of the spectrum, that we’ve had specific actions to protect certain species where they’ve been implemented and we can see the recovery of species. So, action works, but you need political will to make it happen. 

We have to look at the local level working with people on the ground. For example, some of the biggest successes have come from essentially recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities over their territory. They can protect those areas from change. 

UN News: Speaking of incentives, this year’s theme for the Day is ‘Be Part of the Plan’. You have already outlined the plan, which is to attain certain sustainability goals in the area of biodiversity. Is this plan open to individuals, in particular to young people?

David Cooper: Young people have been major advocates for this plan in the first place, their voice was also incredibly important in the negotiation of the Plan, in the adoption of the Plan to ensure that it was ambitious and also balanced and fair in terms of looking at financing as well as looking at the overall project. 

Young people were also instrumental in showing that this plan has a solid foundation in human rights and in the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and gender and intergenerational equity. 

There are specific targets in the Plan focused on the engagement of all sectors of society, including young people, There should be a gender responsive approach. And also, that those at the frontline of defending nature, human rights, defenders of wildlife, are protected and have access to justice. 

All these elements are in the plan and these are in fact incredibly important. To answer the broader question, everyone has to be part of this plan. This means governments, business, but all but consumers, citizens as well, individuals. 

What can they do? Certainly, individuals can move towards more sustainable consumption, make sure their voices are heard in pushing for policies, in voting in elections for those candidates that are going to support action on biodiversity.

One thing that we know is that there is a majority of people who would like to see stronger action on biodiversity and on the environment and on climate change as well. 

They don’t realize they’re in a majority, and perhaps they are less likely to act than if they realize that they are in a majority. I think, we need to leverage this invisible majority, so to speak, for greater action on climate change and to protect nature. 

We need everyone to be part of the plan.