Leaders' Pledge for Nature

Climate Emergency

Nature seemed forgiving, with forests so large and the seas so deep and full of life. Although there is a sustainable amount we can take from nature, we have moved far beyond it. If we do not evolve, we will continue to destroy the biodiversity we depend on, unravelling the web of life we need to survive as a species.

The IGP is a member of the Planetary Emergency Partnership launched at WWF’s Leaders for Nature and People event in September 2019 that took place on the sidelines of the UN Climate Action Summit. In March we signed an open Letter to Global Leaders – A Healthy Planet for Healthy People to show our support and ‘to work together to find pathways to emerge from this emergency with a global economic reset. Prosperity for people and the planet is possible only if we make decisions today so that future generations can survive and thrive in a better world’.

‘If the 20^th century turned much of the world into a pavement or car park, the 21^st century needs to be about turning it back into a garden. That means bringing nature back into our lives in whatever ways possible, and rediscovering nature’s generosity. It means changing the way we see ourselves – from above nature, to deeply embedded with it. It means a deep re-imagining of many areas in a way that honours life and delivers prosperity for the long term’ says Henrietta L Moore, Founder and Director of the IGP. ‘Something about our collision course with nature feels inevitable, but it is not. It is a result of the dominant vision of what prosperity is, and how we deliver it. A new story of a more expansive prosperity delivered by redefining our relationship to the natural world is possible.’

Countries from across geopolitical groups and all regions have shared a Leaders’ Pledge for Nature this month: United to Reverse Biodiversity Loss by 2030 for Sustainable Development, a leader-level joint initiative to bring collective ambition to the UN Summit on Biodiversity.

The IGP supports the Planetary Emergency pledge. We support ambitious governmental actions as outlined in the pledge and continue to implement actions in support of reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.

‘We are in a state of planetary emergency: the interdependent crises of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and climate change - driven in large part by unsustainable production and consumption - require urgent and immediate global action. Science clearly shows that biodiversity loss, land and ocean degradation, pollution, resource depletion and climate change are accelerating at an unprecedented rate. This acceleration is causing irreversible harm to our life support systems and aggravating poverty and inequalities as well as hunger and malnutrition. Unless halted and reversed with immediate effect, it will cause significant damage to global economic, social and political resilience and stability and will render achieving the Sustainable Development Goals impossible.’

Leaders’ Pledge For Nature

The Pledge is a ‘recognition of this crisis and an expression of the need for a profound re-commitment from World leaders to take urgent action’. Against the backdrop of COVID19, which has crippled the world’s economies and pressured governments everywhere to begin the process of rebuilding and renewing, decisions made now will have ramifications for all of us and for generations to come.

Read the full Leaders’ Pledge for Nature