The long road to COP15: New report shares our vision for a decade of action

Today’s blog is written by Fiona Dobson, International Policy Officer, to give insight into a new RSPB report which shares our vision for how the UK should translate global promises into a decade of action. 

The long awaited COP15 summit is fast approaching. Given we’re already 2 years into the decade, there isn’t a moment to waste; we need to plan how we will deliver a nature positive world by 2030. Our report spells out just that for the governments of the UK.

We’re approaching the home stretch of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) marathon. These final months are crucial to build the public and political pressure needed to get the new global deal for nature across the line. 

From design to delivery 

With less than 50 days till COP15, the summit itself might look like the finish line, but we know it’s not that simple. Countries all too often expend all their energy designing and agreeing new global targets, and then run out of puff to actually focus on the most important aspect: the delivery. That’s why we're launching this new report ‘A world richer in nature’ to clearly lay out to the governments of the UK what they need to do to deliver their global commitments and make this decade count. 

A chance to turn things around  

The UK Government had positioned itself as a global leader on nature over recent years, leading coalitions of world leaders through initiatives like the Leaders Pledge for Nature and the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People. However, the UK Government is now carrying out an Attack On Nature, which undermines our international credibility and has real implications for the fate of wildlife around the world and across the whole of the UK. Abandoning leadership makes a global deal to save the planet even harder to achieve, and we are urgently calling on the UK Government to reconsider these threats. Beyond this, there are major opportunities but also a huge amount of work needed in all four countries of the UK to protect and restore nature. Our new report gives recommendations for how the UK Government and devolved administrations can turn this situation around, step up and deliver a world richer in nature. 

Setting out what a decade of action looks like 

Our report sets a clear vision of how to work towards a nature positive UK, and sets out the government actions required to get there. To show what’s possible, we highlight concrete examples of inspiring cases of success. 

Our vision  

It’s clear there is an urgent need to halt and reverse the loss of nature, globally and here in the UK. Our vision is for a nature positive UK by 2030. 

We’ve identified six areas of focus for action across the UK and the UK Overseas Territories to steer us onto a nature positive course. See below our visions for the decade according to these key themes: 

Achieving the vision 

For each theme we lay out the actions that the four governments of the UK need to take. Across the six focus areas, the below are cross cutting actions which stand out: 

1. Shift to a nature positive economy. This means embedding nature into the heart of economic decisions and measuring and costing in nature’s true asset value, to ensure that investment flows back into restoring and stewarding the natural capital of the ecosystems that support us. 
2. Strengthen, implement, and better enforce environmental legislation which provides a firm legal basis for the recovery of nature in this decade. 
3. Develop, implement, and learn from robust plans and strategies to guide and deliver on the UK’s legally-binding environmental commitments. 
4. Take holistic action which brings multiple solutions for nature. This will be achieved by embedding and prioritising nature recovery across governments, recognising its crucial role in our food system, economy, and for tackling and adapting to climate change. 
5. Deliver and effectively deploy adequate and effective financing that genuinely drives change. 
6. Underpin action with science, and closely, accurately and transparently monitor our progress.  
7. Support and empower people to act for nature. 

Making sure we finish the race well, while keeping our eyes on the prize 

Across this Autumn and Winter, we need to keep building the pressure on our governments and leaders to ensure they agree a robust new plan for nature at COP15, which is adequately financed and supported. At the same time, we need to show them that we care about the most important prize – the actual delivery of nature positive action which leads to recovery on the ground. No matter what happens at COP15, we’ll be expecting our governments to take the actions that we set out in our new report. And we’re ready to give our support to turning our visions into reality. 

Stay tuned 

Nature loss is one of the greatest challenges facing the planet. We urgently need to secure nature’s recovery by the end of the decade. Later this year, we will be launching a campaign where you can show your support for an ambitious global agreement for nature. As the road to COP15 moves into the home stretch, we’ll be continuing to use this blog to provide updates on progress.

As the road to COP15 moves into the home stretch, stay tuned to this blog to hear our reports on progress. 

Further reading:  

For more info about the what we’re calling for in the report, see: 

The report – A world richer in nature – can be accessed here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/decade-of-action-report-final.pdf 

Learn more about the CBD here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/what-is-cop15/  

Look out for a series of dives into the report on our Twitter account @Natures_Voice