Nature-based solutions can support climate change adaptation, food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods.
And according to the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), biodiversity provides the answer to a number of sustainable development challenges we face.
SPREP made the remarks as the world marked International Day for Biological Diversity today, with the theme ‘Our Solutions are in Nature’.
“Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has given the global community an opportunity to re-examine our relationship with the environment. Despite our advances in technology, we are completely dependent on healthy ecosystems and biodiversity for our health, food, water, shelter, energy, and much more, making this an important year of reflection, opportunity, and solutions,” the regional institution stated.
It stated that with countries imposing lockdowns or decreasing the movement of citizens, and many around the world in isolation because of COVID-19, business as usual even for environmentalists and conservationists had changed.
It added the global slowdown had provided an opportunity to reflect on the state of the world in terms of health, politics, economic development, and the environment.
“This year’s theme ‘Our solutions are in nature’ emphasises hope,” SPREP Acting Deputy Director-General, Strategic Policy and Technical Programmes Stuart Chape said in the statement.
“Now more than ever, we need to work together at all levels in our society, to build a future that is in harmony with nature.
“We need to use this year, declared by the Convention on Biological Diversity as a ‘super year’ for biodiversity, as a time to increase the resilience of nations, especially the most vulnerable like those in the Pacific.”
Mr Chape said as a response to the current situation, with many Pacific communities feeling the adverse effects of isolation and lockdowns, SPREP was launching a series of online quizzes that would support children and adults alike through whatever situation they were going through in a fun and interactive way, while also learning about the Pacific environment.