Nature

Every human and natural system — from oil extraction to the flight of a flock of starlings — can be seen as a set of repeating patterns. These patterns can be disrupted for good or for bad, says Nigel Topping, the High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26. He shares three rules of radical collaboration that could positively disrupt the patterns of the global economy and help humanity tackle the world’s greatest threat: climate change.

We know the problems, but we also know the solutions. The challenge is turning these solutions into actions, by swaying leaders at all levels of society to protect the mangroves still standing and restore what has been lost, argues a new report from the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA)

Mangrove forests cover just 0.5% of the world’s coasts but account for an estimated 10-15% of coastal carbon capture. As we try to stop CO₂ levels rising and put the brakes on climate change, protecting mangroves for their blue carbon value is key, argues Adam Moolna, Keele University.

Mbaarak Abdalla from Mombasa County, Kenya, explains in his letter for Our World in Your Hands, why he is on a mission to restore and safeguard the mangroves.

Mangroves are a vital ecosystem that benefit our environment, economy, and communities. Yet they severely under threat. An estimated 67% of historical mangrove habitat has been lost or degraded worldwide, with 20% occurring since 1980. One of the biggest threats to mangroves is the tourism industry. Here’s how we can turn this ship around.

A new study that mapped the “blue carbon” uptake from marine and coastal ecosystems around the world highlights how natural sinks and climate change redistribute wealth around the globe.

Actions to conserve, restore, or improve the management of land and coastal ecosystems must be integral to corporate climate strategies, argues a new report from multistakeholder coalition, The Natural Climate Solutions Alliance.

If you could write a letter that would be read by the world’s leaders, what would you say?

The heathcare sector has a responsibility to train, educate, advocate and influence decision and policy-makers, collaborate widely through its research work, and engage the youth in inclusive programmes, according to Dr Claire Bayntun, Vice President of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy and the Greater London Authority; Catherine McGuinness, Chair of the Policy and Resources Institute at the City of London Corporation; and Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council discuss the monumental challenge and opportunity of a net zero London.

In order to win the Race to Zero we also need a generation of thoughtful leaders who will make healthy decisions for us and our planet, argues Anu Ramamurty, founder of Kat Kid Adventure.

In picking up from the wreckage wrought by Covid-19, the climate crisis and the devastatingly fast loss of nature and biodiversity, we find ourselves on the cusp of a great regeneration. It’s a regeneration of our health, of our planet, and of our economy. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have worked together on a report which finds that we can either solve both nature and climate crises or solve neither.

All forms of ecosystem degradation have one thing in common: When people hurt ecosystems, they also hurt economies, biodiversity and the climate.

“Our big opportunity to look beyond what has always been and build a world that we can all thrive in.” A poem by Kumi Naidoo.

Here’s how we make the 2020s an era of recovery and regeneration and making sure that within the decade, nature is absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, supporting jobs and livelihoods, and allowing us to thrive in spite of climate shocks.

World leading shark expert Cristina Zenato explains that if we are to mend our broken relationship with the natural world then first we have to fix our disconnect with the ocean.

The ocean must be embraced as something that connects and shapes humanity rather than isolates it. A shared responsibility rather than a final frontier of resource extraction.

Adventurer, conservationist, writer and photographer Cristina Mittermeier discusses the role of storytelling in the protection of the ocean with COP25 High Level Champion for Chile, Gonzalo Muñoz.

As we head towards COP26, governments need to recognize the importance of the ocean in delivering the Paris Agreement, argues Ørsted Chairman, Thomas Thune Andersen.

8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans every year, making up 80% of all marine debris from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. Chair of the Surfrider Foundation, Susie Crick explains why we must break our addiction to single use plastics.