Political figures from 64 countries signed a Leaders’ Pledge for Nature over the weekend, ahead of the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity, which was hosted virtually from New York. The figures include presidents, prime ministers, and other government representatives from across six continents, from Albania to Uganda, from Justin Trudeau, Imran Khan, and Jacinda Ardern to Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel, and Emmanuel Macron.
Recognising a state of planetary emergency in the face of unprecedented biodiversity loss, the pledge sets out a ten-point plan of urgent action which hopes to put the world on a path to recovery by 2030. The pledge includes commitments to reduce pollution and deforestation, and to ward off alien species while preventing against habitat loss. It aims to protect land and marine ecosystems with the participation of local communities and indigenous peoples, and to boost international efforts towards the sustainable production and consumption of food.
Realising that the global coronavirus pandemic necessitates a green response, the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature vows to put biodiversity at the heart of policy decisions and investment strategies. Its goals were backed in the buildup to the Summit on Biodiversity on Wednesday by David Attenborough, who called for strong leadership. On this point however the pledge contains an implicit warning, as major polluters including the United States, China, Brazil, Russia, India, and Australia have so far failed to sign up.
