Our Moral Obligation
“To strive against odds on behalf of all life would be humanity at its most noble.”
E.O. Wilson believed that only by coming together around a transcendent goal to protect nature, could we stop and reverse the loss of species. In 2022, over 150 nations adopted the Kunming-Montreal Agreement at the 15th United Nations Convention on Biodiversity.
The Kunming-Montreal agreement, global biodiversity framework (GBF), takes critically important steps to build commitment to conserve at least 30 percent of land, sea, and freshwater, known as “30×30”. Targets in the final text of the agreement make a positive difference for species that should now be worked into the individual plans of parties and nations, when identifying “ecologically representative.” Key areas for protection, including inland water along with terrestrial and ocean areas.
“E.O. Wilson’s plea was that we understand everything we can about species. We have the information at high geospatial resolution to inform which 30 percent we must protect in order to safeguard species.”
Further, the agreement establishes commitments to honor and respect how indigenous peoples and local communities steward the bulk of the world’s biodiversity, ensuring these invaluable perspectives inform our common goals and approaches.
“We are at an absolutely crucial turning point for nature — one that requires us to strive for and reach the full suite of key challenges laid out by the GBF: equitable distribution of conservation resources, sustainable land management practices, integration of nature values at all policy levels, and, of course, effective, data-driven conservation of biodiversity.”
Achieving 30×30 is an admirable goal and important progress, but it is not the limit of what we can do, or that needs to be done. The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation stands ready to contribute our science, our leadership, and convening power to help implement, measure, and monitor progress toward these goals in the support of the long-term goal of “Half-Earth.”
