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GLOBAL COMMONS the Planet We Share

GLOBAL COMMONS the Planet We Share

Abdelaziz Bouteflika Universal Struggle

Zhou Shengxia Shielding ecological security Angela Cropper The magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme — September 2011 Seize the Moment

Jeffrey Sachs In the front line

JOHANN ROCKSTRÖm Common Boundaries

GLOBAL The planet we share

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 1 Our Planet, the magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Tel: (254 20) 762 1234 Fax: (254 20) 762 3927 e-mail: [email protected]

To view current and past issues of this publication online, please visit www.unep.org/ourplanet

ISSN 1013 - 7394

Director of Publication : Nick Nuttall Editor : Geoffrey Lean Coordinator : Mia Turner Distribution Manager : Mohamed Atani Design : Amina Darani Produced by : UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information Printed by : Gutenberg Press Limited Distributed by : SMI Books

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNEP or the editors, nor are they an official record. The designations employed and the presentation do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP concerning the legal status of any , or city or its authority or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

* All dollar ($) amounts refer to US dollars. Cover and Back Photo: © iStockphoto

UNEP promotes environmentally sound practices globally and in its own activities. This magazine is printed on 100% recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks and other eco-friendly practices. Our distribution policy aims to reduce UNEP’s carbon footprint. 2 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA : Universal Struggle page 6 An integrated international strategy is urgently needed to combat desertification, degradation and drought.

page 8 ZHOU SHENGXIA : Shielding Ecological Security A commitment to take good care of the and to build a harmonious world.

page 10 Angela Cropper : Seize the moment The Rio+20 Conference needs to raise its ambition to match the opportunity.

page 14 : In the Front Line The drylands are already bearing the brunt of change with effects on poverty, health, hunger and peace itself.

page 20 JOHANN ROCKSTRÖM : Common Boundaries Governance of the is needed to ensure that humanity does not cross the safe boundaries of what the planet can tolerate.

page 22 CHRIS REIJ : Re-greening the Sahel Simply protecting and managing naturally regenerating trees has increased production and reduced conflict.

also page 26 books page 4 STEPHEN J HALL : Fishing for solutions How is the world to secure the sustainable essential for food security? reflections page 5 verbatim and numbers PAGE 17 UNEP at work page 18 people page 24 page 28 www PAGE 33 MANFRED REINKE : Pole Position star PAGE 34 How the international community has sought to conserve .

page 30 KELLY LEVIN and MANISH BAPNA : Adapting the Commons OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 3 presents the greatest challenge to the wellbeing of the Commons, but are adopting books www.unep.org/publications

Adapting for a Green Economy: Companies, Communities and Climate Change

Samantha Putt del Pino, Eliot Metzger, Sally Prowitt, United Nations Global Compact, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and Oxfam

This report is a for companies with a national, regional or global reach that are interested in increasing their strategic focus on adaptation in developing where they have operations, supply chains, employees and current or potential customers.

This report is also aimed at national and international policymakers involved in climate change and dialogues and decision-making, including those who will World Report 2011: Decision Making in a Changing Climate participate in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 (Rio+20). It is hoped that the report’s findings will be useful for a much wider range of actors as well, World Resources Institute, United Nations Environment Programme, including small, local in developing countries that are on the front line of climate United Nations Development Programme, World Bank impacts; civil society organizations seeking to strengthen their work around climate change and sustainable development; and sub-national policymakers, who are in a key position to This exercise by WRI, UNEP, UNDP and the World Bank provides shape a productive interface among , communities and businesses. policymakers around the world - government, civil society, and - with analysis and insight about major environmental and development issues. Already, the world is experiencing the Africa Atlas destructive effects of rising global temperatures, altered rainfall patterns and extreme weather. Short term, such impacts create Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA/UNEP) pressing needs for disaster relief, such as followed the recent unprecedented in Pakistan and heatwave in . Longer This Atlas is a visual account of Africa’s endowment and use of , revealed term effects will continue for decades, with intensifying and wide- through 224 maps and 104 satellite images as well as some 500 graphics and hundreds of ranging impacts on , water supplies and other , compelling photos. However, the Atlas is more than a collection of static maps and images and human habitation. To build climate resilience, developing country accompanied by informative facts and figures: its visual elements vividly illustrate a succinct national decision makers urgently need to integrate climate change narrative describing and analyzing Africa’s water issues and exemplifying them through the risks into planning and policies across sectors such as agriculture, judicious use of case studies. It gathers information about water in Africa and its role in electricity production and forestry and water management. the economy and development, health, food security, transboundary cooperation, capacity building and environmental change into one comprehensive and accessible volume.

UNEP undertook the production of this Atlas at the request of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and in cooperation with the African Union, European Union, ’ State Department, United States Geological Survey and other collaborators.

The Atlas of and Taking Steps toward Marine and Coastal - Mapping Ecosystems, Threatened Resources and Based Management – An Introductory Guide

Don Hinrichsen. Tundi Agardy, John Davis, Kristin Sherwood, Ole Vestergaard

The Atlas of Coasts and Oceans is a comprehensive assessment of the challenges faced in the The Guide outlines operational considerations in an accessible governance of the blue planet; a global common resource. It details the ecological, environmental language, drawing upon practical experiences and lessons across and economic importance of each of the world’s coasts and oceans. The impact of climate change, the globe - from tropical coastlines to temperate estuaries and industrial growth, tourism, and over-fishing as well as the steps being taken towards polar ecosystems. An important message is that this is conservation are well illustrated with global and regional maps, from the Arabian Gulf to the Great an incremental process and there are different paths toward Barrier Reef and including the Baltic, the Black Sea, the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Ecosystem-Based Management. Cross boundary considerations and Sea and Gulf of Aden, the South Pacific and all the other major global waterways. It is a timely working with neighbours and even countries far away will be an contribution to the understanding of marine science. essential component.

4 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE Across all the issues nothing is clear cut: But there is some coalescing of possible transformative, proposals — from scaling up clean to new ways of managing the oceans, freshwater, food security, and disaster preparedness.

To date the main focus has been on the Green Economy. One key issue is tackling subsidies: by some estimates, these range from $400-$600 billion a year — or four times what it would cost to bring Achim Steiner Official Development Assistance up to the 0.7 per cent target. Another is

reflections green procurement: on average public purchasing accounts for 23 per cent UN Under-Secretary-General and of GDP worldwide, enough — it is thought — to tip entire markets onto Executive Director, UNEP a more sustainable track. Other such areas under consideration range With less than nine months to go before the Rio+20 confer- from reforming bilateral investment agreements that hinder the adop- ence, international momentum is building as a result of tion of clean to developing a smarter indicator of wealth that goes growing understanding of the need to re-think economies beyond GDP. and reform an international system of governance that is falling short of what is required. On issues ranging from Meanwhile governments from Kenya and Germany to Malaysia and desertification to loss, current responses and France are signaling support for strengthening or upgrading UNEP to the institutions established to facilitate them are struggling boost the environmental pillar of sustainable development. Other govern- to keep up with the magnitude and velocity of environ- ance proposals include transforming the Commission on Sustainable mental, social and economic change. Development into a Council or merging its functions in a strengthened UN Economic and Social Council. Governments, civil society and business are meeting under an agreed timetable to follow a road map to sharpen and The missing overall link so far is broad political support. , however, shape their positions on Rio+20’s twin themes — the Green is signaling its determination to provide leadership as are several African, Economy in the context of sustainable development and Asian and European heads of state. If more like-minded leaders — poverty eradication and an institutional framework for including from civil society — demonstrate their backing, there is every sustainable development. October’s meeting of the deser- chance that the promise of Rio 1992 can be finally transformed into tification convention, for example, will include a focus on profound outcomes, reflecting a fresh sense of purpose unfolding among livelihoods in drylands and sustainable agriculture. nations to put sustainability both front and centre stage.

recognized at all levels. Without healthy , we will lose other global commons like water and biodiversity.

Soil’s importance as a global common has yet to be anchored in the minds of decision makers. But there are signs of change. On 20 September, world leaders will gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York for a high level-meeting on addressing desertification, and drought in the context of sustainable development and poverty erad- ication. The time is ripe for a paradigm shift that takes land and as Luc Gnacadja finite resources. The current famine and drought in the Horn of Africa reminds us that building the resilience of the drylands communities and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention pursuing sustainable globally are critical to the future to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) well-being of a civilized international society in the 21st century. The Soil, featured prominently in this issue of Our Planet, is cost of action today is far less than the future costs from inaction. a critical part of the global commons. Productive land is pivotal in the sur vival of on Earth, yet 12 million hectares In practical terms, this means pursuing a target that makes history of of it is lost every year due to desertification and drought. the loss of land — such as for example, ‘zero net land degradation’ as Over the next 25 years, such losses may reduce global food part of the global sustainable development target. The long-term sustain- production by up to 12 per cent, increasing world prices by ability of productive land is under threat, but together, we can reverse the as much as 30 per cent. If we are serious about moving to trend if we act swiftly. Now, more than ever, the international commu- a Green Economy, in which agriculture and food security nity must intensify its efforts to forge a global partnership to reverse and are embedded in sustainable development, we must switch prevent desertification and land degradation, and to mitigate the effects to sustainable land-use practices. To do so, the global of drought. Poverty reduction and environmental sustainability will be dimension of desertification and land degradation must be among the quick and lasting returns on our investment. OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 5 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 5 Universal

Abdelaziz Bouteflika

President, struggle the Republic of Algeria © Sebastien Cailleux/Corbis © Sebastien Cailleux/Corbis © Richard Baker/Corbis

Desertification and land degradation are of the land that nourishes them, thus like climate change and biological diversity, creating additional sources of tension and major cha l lenges for the 21 st cent ur y. Indeed, exacerbating migrations. International res- they are even more complex because they ponsibility is undoubtedly engaged in the are multidimensional phenomena under- fight against desertification, drought and lain by diverse factors, especially climatic land degradation. In fact, the universal variations and human activities. struggle against them is an urgent burden on us all, since they lead to forced migra- These phenomena have irreversible tions and challenge social stability, moving economic and social consequences. They us further away from the objectives of deprive hundreds of millions of people sustainable development.

6 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE and consolidate the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertifica- tion. She has brought in important measures aimed at fighting the effects of desertification and drought in arid and semi-arid areas within her own territory.

Major programmes, based on an appropriate institutional framework and covering 20 million hectares, have been put in place to combat deser- tification and land degradation, by using reforestation, rationalising use of areas, raising awareness and mobilizing local authorities and citizens. The “green wall”, already covering an area of 300,000 hectares, will be expanded by 100,000 hectares by 2015.

And a new national map, based on remote sensing and creating awareness on desertification, has been developed The success of this struggle requires to strengthen these efforts. the implementation of the three conventions (on climate change, bio- Moreover, the fight against desertifi- diversity and desertification) agreed cation should also be combined with at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. This improved understanding of , will also depend on the funding and both as complete ecosystems and as “The success of this struggle green technologies that wealthy specific sites for sustainable devel- countries agree to make available to opment, due to the natural resources requires the least fortunate countries. and unique biodiversity they contain. Their value for human settlements the implementation of Africa is the hardest hit . and their invaluable cultural richness Numerous studies show that our also demand such recognition. the three conventions will lose two-thirds of its by 2025, in the Southern Algeria is home to two huge (on climate change, absence of urgent and effective national parks in the midst of the measures therefore destroying its Sahara at the Ahaggar and the Tassili. biodiversity and efforts for both development and These open-air museums, part of world environmental protection. heritage, cover a total area of 452,000 square kilometers. An important desertification) The Millennium Declaration (2000), project for preserving the biodiversity the Millennium Development Goals and cultural heritage is under way with agreed at the and the New Partnership for the assistance of the United Nations Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Development Programme (UNDP). 1992 Rio Earth Summit.” offer us opportunities for effec- tive management of the problems It is increasingly essential to develop related to desertification and land an integrated international strategy for degradation. the protection of our planet. In this precise case, the commitment of the Very early, Algeria associated itself international community should be up with multilateral efforts to negotiate to the challenges that we are facing.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 7 © Yi Lu/Corbis Yi ©

Shielding ecological security

The eco-system consisting of air, oc- The Chinese government developed Zhou Shengxia ean, , land, and “ten measures for environment and nourishes the Earth — our warm Minister, development” two months after the and beautiful home — and provides Ministry of Environmental Protection, 1992 UN Conference on Environ- People’s Republic of China such services as climate regulation, ment and Development. In this new , sources of food century, it put forward a scientific and medicine and natural . outlook on development character- It is an irreplaceable and significant awakened to this by the first United ized as people-oriented, coordinated basis for the subsistence and multi- Nations Conference on the Human and sustainable. It makes great efforts plication of mankind. Environment in 1972. Then the 1992 to promote ecological civilization, United Nations Conference on Envi- strives to build a resource-efficient Rapid social and economic devel- ronment and Development, held in and environmentally-friendly society, opment, especially since the 20th Rio de Janeiro, reached extensive and pursues a refined development century, has made the impact of the consensus on sustainable develop- road that leads to economic growth, human activities on the eco-system ment. Now the concept of balanced prosperous life and good eco-systems. more damaging than ever. Its func- development among economy, tions have been rapidly degrading society and environment has Remarkable progress has been made. and the conflict between man sunk deep into our hearts and has The government has promulgated and nature has been increasingly become a development strategy of more than 20 laws and regulations to sharpened. People worldwide were many countries. protect the environment and natural

8 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE “By the end of 2010, China had As one of the world’s richest coun- 2,588 protected areas, tries for biodiversity, China boasts a variety of terrestrial and marine accounting for 14.9 per cent of its eco-systems and hosts the biggest total number of species in the land territory: these safeguard northern hemisphere. By the end of 2010, it had 2,588 protected areas, 85 per cent of terrestrial eco-systems, accounting for 14.9 per cent of its land territory: these safeguard 40 per cent of natural wetlands, 85 per cent of terrestrial eco-systems, 40 per cent of natural wetlands, 85 per cent of wild fauna 85 per cent of wild fauna and flora and 65 per cent of wild flora . and flora and 65 per cent However, China’s ecology remains fragile. 90 per cent of its 393 million of wild flora habitats ” hectares of are degraded to some degree, while 27.5 per cent © Frank Lukasseck/Corbis of its land are subject to desertification. The country still faces daunting challenges in protecting its .

Looking ahead, the Chinese govern- ment will implement the scientific outlook on development, accel- erate the transformation of the modes of economic development, uplift the level of ecological civi- lization, and explore a new path for environmental protection that features low cost, good returns, low emissions and sustainability. The government will make every effort to strike a balance between envi- ronmental protection and economic development — resolving the prom- inent environmental problems hampering balanced development and damaging public health — and to do a good job in cutting pollu- tion. It will implement the National resources, such as the Environmental conserving natural and Biodiversity Strategy and Action Protection Law, the Forest Law, the programmes for returning farm land Plan (2011-2030), the Regional Plan Grassland Law, and the Law on Marine to nature (forest/grassland/wetland/ on Ecological Construction and Environmental Protection. China ), have also been implemented. Environmental Protection on the has also set mandatory targets for China has ratified such international Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and other cutting emissions of the main pollu- conventions, as the Convention on ecological conservation plans for tants in its national plan for economic Biological Diversity, the Ramsar specific key . The key eco- and social development. Pollution Convention on Wetlands and the system of rivers and lakes will also prevention and control programs United Nations Convention to be rehabilitated. All these actions in key river basins and regions have Combat Desertification and has aim to build a shield for ecological been continued and a number of carried out extensive bilateral and security, to help protect the earth, other schemes, such as projects for multilateral cooperation. and to build a harmonious world.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 9 © WDG Photo/Shutterstock ©

Seize the Moment

Next year’s Rio+20 Conference is a golden opportunity for political leadership, given the dire, urgent and complex economic, social and environmental issues that confront the world. The requirement for such leadership and commitment on macro ANGELA CROPPER sustainable development issues is more Former Deputy Executive Director, pressing than the need for long lists of now Special Advisor sectoral ‘to dos’, which mostly already exist to the Executive Director, UNEP on paper as outcomes of global summits and sectoral processes.

We know what needs to be done. We need, however, to examine why implementation lags so far behind such resolutions of mind and what would enable this Conference to elevate its ambition and make good use of the opportunity before it. How might it remove some of the impediments to sustain- able development? What kind of outcomes would position the world to deal with some of the urgent, if complex, problems it faces?

10 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE © moodboard/Corbis

Here are ten ideas for ambitious approaches which need political direction and subse- quent commitment:

1. 2. Shape the approach to economic growth Make a commitment to reduce to serve social objectives and recognize inequity, domestically and globally. environmental limits and imperatives. The Conference could draw attention The Conference will meet at a propitious to how the present economic approach moment, as the world now much better generates persistent poverty and understands the issues of sustainable increasing inequity, recognizing that the development and how the economy, the peripheral means by which the world tries environment and human well-being are to alleviate them do not allow it to catch inter-related and mutually supportive. up. It could commit itself to reducing But this understanding is not put into that equity gap consciously and urgently practice: environmental imperatives and both within and among countries, and human well-being objectives are invari- put in place arrangements to keep the ably traded off as optional and secondary process under global and national scru- to economic growth. This impedes tiny. Without achieving this for the sustainable development which unifies present generation we can hardly expect economic, social and environmental to meet the concern for equity between objectives — as opposed to adding on generations. environmental and social considerations only where the economic bottom line 3. remains unaffected. Require more appropriate “National – measures of development to be formu- The Conference could set this rela- lated and applied as opposed to tionship properly on its feet, putting It is well established that relying on economic growth at the service of the Gross Domestic Product as the measure government social objectives which governments of development is misleading, especially have long enunciated over time and given the goal of sustainable devel- – recognising and respecting resource and opment, yet we persist in its use. The environmental constraints. This will Conference could call for urgent and of the approaches require qualitatively different attention accelerated work, in a specified time to decisions about policy, investment, frame, towards a new set of measure- and measures and other development interventions, ments and indicators that reflect the so that environmental and human well- three dimensions of sustainable devel- to be taken needs to be being outcomes are not sacrificed in opment as equally important. National the preoccupation with, and pursuit of, Income Accounting Systems will also cultivated and secured.” economic growth. need to reflect the same characteristics.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 11 © Jake Warga/Corbis © Jake

4. 6. Require corporate reporting on integrated Make an affirmative intervention sustainability parameters. on the economic interests of youth. It is important to understand how economic Youth unemployment — and the tensions activ ities a ffect nationa l econom ic, env iron- to which it leads — is a global pheno- mental and social dimensions of sustainable menon. The Conference could decide to development. Much available technical establish a global programme for training guidance is available on how such sustain- and employing young people to equip them ability reporting can be done, and some with the skills and opportunities to share countries have already moved to require more equitably in the development process. this important measure of accountability This could be especially useful if linked to by law. The Conference could conclude that the nature and range of skills required to such national reporting should be made ‘green’ economies. mandatory, to permit oversight of corpo- rate practice and to guide enabling policies 7. and institutional arrangements. This would Agree to take action to restore contribute to measuring national progress the world’s marine commons. and, if universally applied, would not The science on the degradation of the affect competitiveness. marine commons is unambiguous; the policy actions required are clear; but poli- 5. tical decision-making lags behind. Effective Commit to enhanced investment and action is invariably sacrificed to national arrangements for public involvement. interests and practices while, globally, Moving towards sustainable develop- there is a laissez-faire approach, even ment cannot be done by governments though the issue is vital to global environ- alone: they must guide and enable soci- mental sustainability and many livelihoods. eties along that pathway. Societies must With present practice and approaches, understand the nature of the changes the assets of the marine commons will required and be prepared to support them. continue to degrade, perhaps irretrievably, National — as opposed to government in spite of the many polices, programmes — ownership of the approaches and meas- and instruments in place from national to ures to be taken needs to be cultivated global levels. These urgently need to be and secured. This requires educational unified and gaps filled, including by paying programmes that build understanding and attention to ocean areas not covered could lead to changes in values and beha- by present governance arrangements. viour; access to information that enables The Conference could declare its commit- and empowers citizens to make choices ment to the systemic action required and inputs; and mechanisms for public to address this need and require that involvement and consultation that are part it be served through all the related of national governance arrangements. global processes.

12 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE © http://www.grida.no/photolib/

8. Commit to transforming land manage- Global Partnership for Development. ment and food production It could decide on global affirmative and consumption systems to ensure action to help them overcome impedi- national and global food security. ments over domestic investible resources, This is essential for many reasons: access to modern technologies on afford- avoiding a new wave of converting forests able terms, and technical capacity for and wetlands in response to the pressures designing accelerated economic transfor- for world food security; ensuring that mation and the institutional framework “Commit existing agricultural land is used sustain- of policies, legislation, regulation, fiscal ably; addressing the multiple pressures measures that will be required. This to transforming that lead to processes of land degrada- would also include establishing and tion and desertification; and addressing harmonizing a public/private investment land management the needs of the estimated two billion and financing platform. people who subsist in threatened ecolo- and food production gical systems and are at the bottom 10. of the human well-being ladder. The Commit to an energy compact and consumption Conference could commit to increased to expand access, efficiency, and investment in alleviating such pro- investment in renewables. systems to ensure cesses and to the national policies and The Conference could catalyze a new actions required. global energy mix by relating energy national and demand (access, saving and efficiency) 9. and supply (including incentive policies, global food security.” Help Least Developed Countries subsidies, investments and the deploy- onto a ‘fast runway’ for ment of renewable energy sources). This Sustainable Development. could be an important lever for simul- The Conference could take global lead- taneously addressing economic, social ership on behalf of the world’s 48 most and environmental aspirations in the disadvantaged countries, and set the context of climate change targets and stage for a transformative moment in the sustainable development.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 13 In the front line

The drylands are on the front line of climate change, and they include the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. We are already “We need several different seeing in them the harrowing effects of climate change on poverty, survival, health, kinds of responses. hunger, human well-being — and on peace itself, because the heavily impacted The first is scientific. drylands are among the most unstable parts Secondly, of the world. The stretch from Senegal through to Afghanistan is a region of great there are huge gaps in vulnerability, poverty, and deprivation of basic needs — whether food and nutrition, our knowledge of the access to health and veterinary care, safety adaptation — or failure to for crops and , or, of course, water. Prof. Jeffrey Sachs Instability is rising throughout this region: adapt — of human systems. conflicts that are branded under the political Director, Earth Institute, The third element is, Columbia University headline of extremism, or political conflict, often have at their roots the challenges of of course, the intervention desertification, increasing droughts, more unstable rainfall, many more failed harvests measures that are than in the past, and — in some regions desperately needed — an inability to grow crops reliably any longer. The current famine in the Horn of for adaptation to Africa, which has left more than ten million people fighting for survival, is a vivid and climate change.” harrowing demonstration of the perils of desertification and drylands instability.

14 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE © UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran Gonzalez © UN Photo/Albert Farran Gonzalez © UN Photo/Albert

Population has also increased We need several different kinds of extreme drying in the 1970s? There fourfold or more in such regions responses. The first is scientific. We has been some recovery; but how since the middle of the twentieth do not have a truly thorough under- robust is it? How are nomadic and century. Climate change is hitting standing of how global and regional semi-nomadic communities doing? massive demographic pressures head changes are really affecting the Can we get much more system- on — an enormously threatening of the Sahel, the Horn of atic data? Of course the Secretariat phenomenon. And yet these issues are Africa, or West and Central Asia. of the UN Convention to Combat not getting the level of global policy One priority is a thorough, state-of- Desertification collects a lot of this attention and response required. the-art, and detailed account of how information and, crucially, helps Even our standard and security the dryland regions are feeling the disseminate it to the wider scientific approaches do not understand that global climate signal. We need down- and development community. But underlying the surface manifesta- scaled models and better evidence there’s a lot more work to be done to tion of violence and conflict lies a about what the large models are get on-site real-time verification of much deeper and even more threat- saying about future threats for these these changes; to use remote sensing ening danger — of ecological risk regions. And we need an authorita- more systematically to measure from climate change, demographic tive collection of weather station fluctuations in herders, livestock, pressures, and many other pressures. data to be made available to compile and assets, and to understand their Military engagement is not working, a detailed and thorough account of vulnerabilities; and to see how because such issues as hunger, live- climate over the last thirty years, demographic pressures are affecting stock survival, and increasing stresses to create not just a baseline for the these communities. Total fertility between sedentary populations and future, but a much richer base to rates remain at six, seven, or eight nomadic or semi-nomadic livestock enable us to attempt attribution of children per woman in many loca- herders cannot be addressed by these observed changes. tions. A demographic disaster seems means. We have not seen a coherent, to be on the way as a result of a huge consistent, persistent, scaled, science- Secondly, there are huge gaps in our overload on an already strained and based approach to these challenges, knowledge of the adaptation — or fragile ecosystem that is only going because the resources and political failure to adapt — of human systems to become more stressed in future. attention have not been devoted What has really happened in the Widespread family planning and to them. populations in the Sahel since the modern contraceptive services need

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 15 © UN Photo/Tim McKulka © UN Photo/Tim © UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran

“how can impoverished to be put in place to mitigate the dryland communities a report on climate change and crash between expanding popula- the drylands recommending how tions and the future climate. ensure that to build resilience, adaptability, emergency preparedness, and risk The third element is, of course, the next generation mitigation strategies. It proposed the intervention measures that are that there should be scaled-up pilots desperately needed for adaptation is raised with the skills of community-based adaptation to climate change. These range and knowledge projects with poor and vulnerable from preparedness for emergencies communities, in urban and rural to other kinds of risk mitigation to meet the growing areas, in the drylands. Three years strategies, such as creating financial on, projecting is starting to take insurance, diversifying economic challenges facing them?” hold, as Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, activities, or establishing alterna- , Djibouti, and South Sudan tives in management and and knowledge to meet the growing have joined together in a Drylands water storage. challenges facing them? The fourth, Initiative. They will work to use best critically, is infrastructure, starting practices and cutting-edge technol- Impoverished communities facing with water — encompassing irri- ogies to support their pastoralist a multiplicity of shocks and chal- gation, storage, and communities’ effort to escape lenges need a holistic approach. in the event of drought — but also the scourges of extreme poverty The Millennium Villages Project including transport, storage, the and famine, supported by part- has helped to pioneer such an ability to connect local communi- ners including Ericsson, Airtel, approach in the drylands, such as ties with regional and international Novartis, Sumitomo Chemical, and in Dertu, Kenya, near the Somalia markets, and the Islamic Development Bank. border. Its integrated strategy and connectivity, which There is a pressing need for hol- focuses on five key areas. The first can be a very powerful tool for istic, community-based responses aspect is the whole complex of live- these often very dispersed dryland — which are scientifically-grounded stock and crops. Second is the populations. And the fifth area is and address health and veterinary health system, which is affected by business development, especially needs, water storage and other infra- tremendous climate-related shocks, around livestock and other areas structure, children’s education, the as well as by such huge challenges where increased value-added could improvement and survival of herds, as epidemics of malaria, Rip Valley bring greatly improved well-being and linkages to markets. This is of Fever, Rinderpest, or other endemic to communities. paramount and growing importance, diseases. The third is education: not only for these communities’ how can impoverished dryland In 2008, the Swedish Govern- well-being, but for resolving what communities ensure that the next ment’s Committee of Climate otherwise will be a growing epidemic generation is raised with the skills Change and Development put out of violent conflict.

16 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE verbatim numbers

Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director 2.2 million Species dwelling in the ocean depths — UNEP-WCMC “The world can no longer afford to delay restoring the health and wealth of the oceans.” 500 million People in developing countries who rely Jesse Ausubel, Vice-President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and co-founder on fisheries and aquaculture for of the Census of Marine Life livelihoods — Achim Steiner 145 “Awaiting our discovery are a half million fungi and moulds whose Countries that share one or more relatives gave humanity bread and cheese.” international river basins — UNEP

Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat US$ 150 – 200 billion Desertification (UNCCD) Estimated annual value of internationally traded forest products — UNEP Forest and Green Economy Report “Droughts do not happen overnight. We stress the need for effective long term solutions to the root causes of 5–10 million famine in drought prone regions.” Hectares of farmland that are lost each year to degradation — UNEP IWMI Ecosystems Approach to Water and Food Security Andreas Carlgren, Swedish Minister for Environment 2.1 billion “It is urgent to put a price on the services on ecosystems.” Number of people living in the world’s drylands — Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 50 billion Migratory birds that make phenomenal annual journeys across borders and “No nation will solve climate change alone. And no nation is alone in regions of the world — African- feeling its impacts.” Eurasian Waterbirds Agreement

Zhou Shengxian, Minister of Environment, China 12 million People in the Horn of Africa who are affected by drought — Guardian “Environmental protection is the way to development.” 90% of China’s 393 million hectares of grasslands Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact are degraded to some degree, while 27.5% of its land territories are subject to desertification — Zhou Shengxian, Business can only thrive in stable and enabling environments Minister of Environment, China

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 17 UNEP at work

UNEP undertakes a wide range of activities in promoting and facilitating the development and uptake of clean technology. Here are a couple of recent examples. For further examples of UNEP’s climate change work visit: www.unep.org/unite/30Ways © Marie Tysnes/iStockphoto © Marie

New “Cool Tools” for Waterbird and Wetland Conservation

An innovative tool for tracking the migratory patterns of waterbirds has won first prize in an ESRI International Conservation Mapping Competition. The “Critical Site Network Tool” (CSN Tool) and the supporting “Flyaway Training Kit” (FTK) are some of the products of the Wings over Wetland (WOW) project, the largest flyway-scale waterbirds conservation initiative ever attempted, covering the 118 countries included in the range of the African-Eurasian Waterbirds Agreement (AEWA).

The WOW project is funded by the GEF (Global Environment Facility), the German Government and several other donors, and it is implemented by UNEP as a joint effort by leading global conserva- tion organizations and partners such as Wetlands International, BirdLife International, the AEWA, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and UNEP-WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

An estimated 50 billion migratory birds make phenomenal annual journeys across borders and regions of the world, covering thousands of kilometers. For this reason, they are a link between countries and ecosystems, making them one of the world’s great wonders. Because of their use of several habitats as stopover sites during migration, the health of migratory birds is an important indi- cator of the state of our environment.

The CSN Tool will be instrumental to improve our understanding of waterbirds migration, and it will promote their conservation through better management and more informed decision making at the flyways scale. This will also help combat the adverse effects of climate change by protecting the crit- ical wetlands habitats used by water birds. These habitats are also important for the livelihoods of millions of people in rural communities living around those wetlands.

18 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE © UNEP UNEP wins UN21 Award for Climate Neutrality

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) won the UN21 Award for Climate Neutrality. UNEP was the co-winner of the award along with the UN Department of Field Support during a ceremony at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Audito- rium at UN Headquarters in New York in August. Held every year, the UN 21 Awards recognize outstanding initiatives by United Nations staff members or teams to improve the delivery of the Organization’s programmes and promote its values. The winners’ stories are intended to inspire other staff members to follow their example, replicate good practices and make strides to improve the delivery of UN programmes and services.

UNEP, which has been climate neutral since 2008, is at the forefront of ongoing sustainability efforts within the United Nations. Last year, it became the first UN organization to publish an Emission Reduction Strategy, including a target to reduce emissions by three per cent per annum in 2010-12 (from 2009 levels). Implementing the efficiency measures could save UNEP an estimated US$800,000 per year. The new office facility that houses UNEP and UN- headquarters in Nairobi also set a new benchmark for sustainable buildings when it was opened by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon in March 2011.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 19 © Andrey Prokhorov/iStockphoto © Andrey

Johann Rockström Director, Stockholm Environment Institute

change manifests itself on essen- tially all parameters that matter for human wellbeing: from habitat loss Common to climate change. Three additional and interacting factors accentuate the challenge. The first is the growth of popula- tion and affluence: we are largely committed to grow from the current Boundaries 7 billion to 9 billion people by 2050, in a world that is rapidly urban- izing and becoming more affluent (the majority of the world popula- Human pressure on the planet is a geological planetary force. We may tion, which remains poor, has so far reaching a saturation point which, therefore be pushing ourselves out claimed only a limited fraction of if exceeded, may undermine social of our current epoch, the Holocene, the global commons, while having a and economic development. This is the last 10,000 years of inter-glacial, right to a share of them). Secondly, new, as are its effects on our global which has provided extraordinarily science increasingly indicates the commons — the stratospheric stable environmental conditions, risk of abrupt and irreversible , the climate system, the enabling world development as we changes, when systems — from local , the , and know it. ecosystems to the climate — are the cryosphere — verified through pushed across tipping points. This empirical observations over the past The driving forces behind this can lead to catastrophic shifts in 20 years or so. These manifesta- of environmental conditions for nations and regions, tions include, the rapid depletion of challenges starts in the mid 1950s. potentially triggered by changes in the ozone layer, a continued expo- Up until this point, the relative global commons, such as increasing nential rate of biodiversity loss, impact from humanity on the global greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, degradation of air quality, land and commons was low — the environ- triggering a destabilization of the freshwater, aerosol loading and mental impacts from almost 200 sheet. The third is the chemical pollution at regional scales, years of industrialization remained, growing evidence of our social and climate change, and unsustainable until then, largely limited to local economic dependence on ecosystem appropriation of such finite natural and regional impacts on water, land, services for human wellbeing, from resources as oil and phosphorus. air. After mid-century the human such local functions as fertile soils to The impacts are starting to manifest enterprise changes pace. The indus- global ones like a stable Arctic. themselves in ways that affect eco- trial metabolism goes to scale, nomies around the world. and we start seeing an exponential We need to rethink human devel- increase in social wellbeing, GDP opment in this new Anthropocene The scale of human influence is so growth, population numbers, health epoch. We urgently need to bend the large that we may have entered a improvements and human impacts curves of negative global environ- new geological epoch, the Anthro- on the environment. So, this is the mental change in order to navigate pocene, where humanity constitutes point when global environmental within a safe operating space in the

20 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE “Governance of the global commons rious regional and global disruption. space for humanity. The first analysis is required to achieve Nine such planetary boundary proc- indicates that we have transgressed the esses have been proposed. These safe space for three of them — climate sustainable development and include the three global commons change, rate of biodiversity loss and where there is evidence of large scale extracting nitrogen from the atmos- thus human wellbeing. thresholds — climate change, deple- phere. This places us in a slippery and tion of the ozone layer, and ocean risky danger zone where we cannot We can no longer acidification — and processes that exclude hitting tipping points: the provide regulatory functions that accelerated melting of ice in the Arctic focus solely on determine the resilience of major may be one early warning of such a biomes — and ultimately the Earth non-linear dynamic. national priorities for system — change, fresh- water use, the rate of biodiversity Governance of the global commons is economic development and loss, and human interference with required to achieve sustainable devel- the global nitrogen and phosphorus opment and thus human wellbeing. We environmental protection.” cycles. The final two are chemical can no longer focus solely on national pollution and aerosol loading. Safe priorities for economic development Earth system. Global commons must boundaries have been quantified for and environmental protection. The be governed as an integral part of the first seven and were chosen at influence all nations have on the global national and regional development. the lower — more risk averse — end commons — at a point of growing of the uncertainty range articulated environmental saturation — generates The concept of planetary boundaries by science, as a way of applying a worldwide feedbacks that influence provides a framework in this context. precautionary principle: for climate local economies. Nor can we focus It identifies environmental proc- change, for example, it was placed on climate change alone. We most now simultaneously address sustain- esses that determine the stability of at 350 ppm CO2 (parts per million), components of the Earth system — when science indicates the risk of ability at the planetary scale for all and proposes sustainable boundaries crossing tipping points in the range the key environmental processes linked to the stability of the Earth’s for the key variables that deter- of 350 – 550 ppm CO2. mine change for each process, set in biophysical systems. order to try to avoid tipping points Together these nine planetary that may cause abrupt and delete- boundaries provide a safe operating The planetary boundary concept may be useful in supporting the govern- ance of our global commons. We need to recognize the social implications of living within safe boundaries, and all the boundaries have to add up, within safe levels, at the global scale. Thus no nation or region can appropriate a larger share of the global commons without both transparently reporting this to all other nations, and agreeing on mecha- nisms to ensure that the aggregate use of planetary space remains within safe boundaries. Staying within the safe operating space in the Anthropocene, in a world with growing populations and affluence, will require distributing the planetary space among nations. This is, to say the least, a challenging but necessary task, which, when we

© Karen Kasmauski/Getty Images succeed, will benefit humanity as a whole for generations.

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Chris Reij Facilitator, African Re-greening Initiatives, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Regreening the Sahel Something surprising has been found to be happening in the Sahel. Recent studies on long-term trends in agriculture and environment in Niger’s densely populated Maradi and Zinder Regions show that local farmers have greened some five million hectares, simply by protecting and managing the natural regeneration of trees and bushes on their land — producing the largest scale environmental transforma- tion in the Sahel, possibly in Africa. This process began around 1985, but — although some researchers had noticed that farmers in some villages had increased the number of trees, no one had come to grips with the scale of the re-greening until Where farmers had only 2 or 3 almost 20 times more than all tree 2006. Then the use of high resolu- trees per hectare 20 years ago, they planting projects in Niger over the tion satellite images, combined with now have 40, 60 or even over 100. same period combined; though field visits, allowed researchers to Remarkably, they did not them, these planted about 65 million trees, work out what was happening. but protected and managed trees an average of only about 20 per cent and bushes which regenerated spon- survived. The farmers, moreover, Over the last two decades, farmers taneously from underground root did this at a very low cost, since in Niger have grown 200 million systems or from seeds remaining protecting and managing natural new trees on their cultivated fields. in the topsoil. They thus achieved regeneration does not require estab-

22 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE “Conflicts governmental organisation catalysed 500,000 tons of cereals a year, feeding the process by offering farmers an additional 2.5 million people. The food aid during two drought years trees, moreover, are capital assets, between herders in the mid-1980s in exchange for which help increase aggregate agri- protecting natural regeneration, and cultural production and thus help and farmers farmers quickly realised the bene- reduce rural poverty. The annual fits of re-greening. A survey of about production value of the new trees is have decreased by 400 farmers showed that: at least around 200 million euros, which all goes to the farmers, in the about 80 per cent • trees reduce wind speed, and form of produce, if not cash. thus young crops are no longer as the land destroyed by windblown sand; This process of re-greening by as a result, farmers now only farmers is not confined to parts has been re-greened need to plant crops once, instead of Niger. Many new agroforestry of having to try three or four systems, big and small, can be found and since the resource pie times, as they did 20 years ago; in the Sahel. Farmers in Mali’s Seno Plains — between the Plateau • some tree species produce fodder, Dogon and the Burkina Faso border has grown, there is allowing farmers to increase — for example, have protected and the number of their livestock; more to share.” managed trees on 450,000 hectares • instead of being burned as of their land. About 90 per cent of the fuel, like 20 years ago, all trees are less than 20 years old. Simi- © Johnny Haglund/Getty Images © Johnny Haglund/Getty dung is used on the cultivated larly farmers in Senegal’s Kaffrine fields, helping to maintain region, who visited the re-greening in and improve ; Niger, began to protect and manage natural regeneration on their return. • farmers are aware that some Their re-greening covers about species, notably Faidherbia albida, 30,000 hectares and it is spreading improve soil fertility by fixing like wildfire. nitrogen from the air (depending on density and age, they can fix 80 The African Re-greening Initia- to 90 kilogrammes per hectare); tive (ARI) which aims to expand • women now only have to spend the scale of such successes, currently 0.5 hours a day collecting operates in Burkina Faso, Mali firewood compared to 2.5 and Niger and is now planning to hours 20 years ago; expand to other African countries. Its strategy includes organizing • trees contribute to food secu- farmer-to-farmer study visits, devel- rity even if crops fail, for they oping national policy dialogues produce edible leaves and fruit; around agricultural policies and • during drought years, poor forestry legislation, and mobilizing farmers literally can survive the attention of national and interna- by pruning trees and selling tional media to re-greening. the to buy food; Developing agroforestry increases • conflicts between herders and aggregate production and creates farmers have decreased by about more drought-resilient farming lishing tree nurseries or transporting 80 per cent as the land has been systems. It is the only major low cost seedlings to planting sites. re-greened: since the resource pie option for intensifying agriculture has grown, there is more to share. open to small-scale farmers in Africa What triggered this re-greening? with limited financial and resource The Sahelian droughts and environ- A report published by the Inter- capital. Experience shows that they mental crisis of the 1970s and 1980s national Food Policy Research will invest in trees on their land if put many farmers with their backs Institute estimates that new agrofo- they perceive that they own them. against the wall. They had to fight restry systems on the re-greened five For, as farmers in Tigray, Ethiopia, land degradation or migrate. A non- million hectares produces an extra say: “trees are our backbone”.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 23 people

Charles and Sho Scott

Charles and Sho Scott are endurance sports enthusiasts who use their passion towards environmental sustainability. In 2009, Mr. Scott and his 8-year old son Sho were named “Climate Heroes” by the United Nations Environment Programme. They rode connected bicycles the length of mainland Japan, covering 2,500 miles in 67 days to raise money for UNEP’s Billion Tree planting campaign.

Their more recent challenge was a 1,500-mile trek through on connected bicycles with Sho’s 4-year old sister joining them in a bike trailer. Mr. Scott is currently writing a book about the Japan ride called “Rising Sons.”

Michael Sam Muli and Ruth Cherono Sego

Michael Sam Muli, 18, Ruth Cherono Sego, 23, have been selected as Young Environmental Envoys for Kenya by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Bayer, a global innovator enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials.

Mr. Muli, a student in Environmental and Bio-systems Engineering at the University of Nairobi, put forward a green energy project that aims to replace firewood and charcoal used as cooking fuel in households with briquettes made from dried foliage and waste paper. The project seeks to reduce carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and to create jobs and income for local residents through the production and sale of the cleaner fuel briquettes.

Ms. Sego, an Environmental Health student at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, put forward a proposal focusing on the sustainable production of castor oil as a biofuel. The project explored how the castor oil plant, which is indigenous to East Africa, could be sustainably cultivated to help meet the fuel needs of communities in Kenya, but in a way that did not adversely affect food production.

24 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE Sylvia Earle

The Global Commons has a strong advocate with Sylvia Earle. As an oceanographer whose Kwon Byong Hyon passion for the environment has great depth, Sylvia Earle is also an explorer, lecturer and Ambassador Kwon Byong Hyon of the Republic of research scientist. She has led more than Korea is the first Sustainable Land Management 60 expeditions and logged more than 6,000 (SLM) Champion for the Convention to Combat hours underwater, including leading the first Desertification (UNCCD). team of women aquanauts. She has also set a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 A lawyer by profession, with a distinguished meters (3,300 feet). diplomatic career, Ambassador Kwon set up the Future Forest organization to raise awareness She has worked hard to raise public awareness about desertification. In 2005, he begun a wall of the damage being done to our aquasphere made of natural forests to ‘tame the yellow dragon’, by pollution and environmental degradation or deserts, known as the “Korea-China Friendship and has received more than 100 national and Great Green Wall”. His target — planting one billion international honors, including is the 2009 trees in China’s Kubuchi — demonstrates TED Prize for her proposal to establish a global that degraded land can be reclaimed, and to network of marine protected areas. She calls provides a research site on reclaiming degraded these marine preserves “hope spots to save land. The Great Green Wall already has a 70 per and restore the blue heart of the planet”. cent success rate in tree planting.

Christopher Stone

As the world gears up for the Rio+20 Conference next year, Christopher Stone has plenty of experience to share, having helped shape resolutions on of the Environment for the Rio Earth Summit Conference in 1992. An authority and teacher of environmental and global issues, Professor Stone has contributed to several spheres including international , environmental ethics, and trade and the environment. Mark Dodd

He has researched a variety of areas affecting Mark Dodd is a UK film director who has won the 2011 International Film sustainability, including alternate energy policy, climate Festival award as the best independent film for his documentary “The Man Who change, biodiversity, and ocean policy. He is also an Stopped the Desert”, a film about Yacouba Sawadogo, a small-holder farmer in advisor to the Foundation for International Environmental Burkina Faso who revived a traditional agricultural technique to restore barren Law and Development in London, and the Center for land. The beautifully shot film, showing that one man’s conviction can benefit many International Environmental Law. thousands living in the Sahel region of Africa, will leave you moved and inspired.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 25 © Frans Lanting/Corbis © Frans

Fishing for solutions

Fish has been the single most important source of the world’s animal protein for most of the past thirty years. But though per capita consumption has almost doubled worldwide over that period, it has remained low in much of Africa and parts of Asia.

Paradoxically, however, the people of these regions — where undernutrition is most prevalent — Stephen J. Hall depend more on fish as their major animal source food than those in Europe, Japan, and North America, even though they actually get less of it. Six sub-Saharan African countries, Director-General, The WorldFish Center for example, rely on fish for more than half of their animal protein, but the region still suffers the world’s lowest per capita fish consumption.

The prevalence of fish in the diet of people with the lowest overall animal source food consump- tion and highest levels of undernutrition highlights the importance of sustaining and improving access to it for the world’s poor. Helping more of them get more of this preferred, nutritious food could profoundly improve health and nutrition in the short to medium term.

26 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE Achieving this means sustaining the are genuine global commons: many One option worth discussing, for world’s wild capture fisheries. This others share similar characteristics, example, is establishing a Global is because the countries that most but reside under national jurisdic- Action Network (GAN) — a global depend on fish for food rely primarily tion. Sadly — although the vast body governance arrangement that focuses on catches from the wild: although of literature that followed Garret on a specific through aquaculture continues to grow, Harding’s description of “The an inter-organizational network — there is no immediate prospect that ” indicates for fisheries. Serving as impartial it can replace these supplies. And that we understand the problem — bridging agents among diverse organ- since aquatic ecosystems are widely we are still not very good at doing izations, and driving for systemic distributed throughout remote rural anything about it. change, GANS are increasingly seen areas in many parts of the world, the as effective vehicles for addressing fisheries they support often serve So, given our failures to date, gaps in concerning vital functions in supplying liveli- what do we need to do now ethics, communication, and imple- hoods and safety nets against famine and how should we do it? mentation. Familiar examples include that governments have so far been the Global Alliance for Vaccines and unable to provide. It is, of course, Five priority objectives that apply Immunization, The Global Alli- not enough for there to be sufficient both on the high seas and in many ance for Improved Nutrition and the food and services, they must also be fisheries under national jurisdic- Global Water Partnership. available and accessible to the people tion supply the aswer to the first who need them: wild fisheries often question.These are: Given such apparent promise, achieve this in developing countries should we not think about assem- without any help from us. bling an inclusive non-hierarchical 1. Recognising and addressing peer network of institutions to help structural weaknesses in Yet, despite the importance of fish- address local to global fisheries issues access regimes (i.e. the eries, we have, at best, had mixed — and learn lessons in the process? design of fishing rights); success in making the most of our Such an approach would not remove resources by managing them to ensure 2. Minimising the ‘rent drains’ the need to strengthen and clarify a sustained — and, where possible, resulting from fuel, and other roles and performance expecta- enhanced supply. This is true for the inappropriate, subsidies; tions for such intergovernmental inland fisheries, marine ones under 3. Minimising the prevalence institutions as the UN Agencies national in Exclusive of illegal and pirate fishing; and Regional Fish-eries Manage- Economic Zones, on the high seas ment Organisations: though needing 4. Ensuring inclusion of and for straddling migratory stocks. reform, these have an important marginalized and poorer A recent study co-authored by 21 and continuing role in establishing people in global value chains; researchers and published in Science normative standards. Nor should we magazine examined in detail ecosys- 5. Incorporating environmental forget the importance of strength- tems that accounted for a quarter of into the ening global market mechanisms world fisheries area and catch — and cost of fisheries; through such institutions as the concluded that while “management World Trade Organisation, which actions have achieved measurable The much deeper question, of course, appears to be making good progress reductions in exploitation rates in is how to achieve these objectives. on fisheries subsidies. But though some regions, a significant fraction Here I offer no simple prescriptions our current institutions are neces- of stocks will remain collapsed and think we should be sceptical of sary, they show no signs of being unless there are further reductions”. those that do. Instead, I believe we sufficient for the problems at hand. The Food and Agriculture Organ- need to think again about how best So — despite the considerable chal- isation assessments concur with to have the conversations among all lenges to establishing an effective this conclusion. the relevant actors so as to arrive Global Action Network — it is at durable, adaptable solutions for surely worth considering exploring Much over-exploitation arises from global, regional and national fish- this option for helping meet the the often free and open (or too cheap eries. And, given the general failure challenge of sustaining the world’s and insufficiently well-regulated) of current institutions to resolve fisheries so that they continue to access to the resource. Some fish- these issues, we may need to think underpin supplies and help meet our eries, such as those in the high seas, about new ones that might help. food security needs.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 27 © http://www.grida.no/photolib/

Pole Position Changes occur faster in the polar regions than elsewhere, making them the most sensitive indicators of global change. They are also the last extended pristine areas on the planet with extremely sensi- tive and unique ecosystems. And they are the drivers of the global climate; since climate systems are strongly coupled, changes in

Manfred Reinke these regions have a strong impact on living conditions worldwide.

Executive Secretary, Environmental protection has been on the agenda of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting since the early sixties — soon after the birth of the treaty, one of the last century’s most successful international instruments focused on peace and international collaboration. Signed in Washington in December 1959 by the twelve countries whose scientists had been active in and around Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, it has since been acceded to by 36 other nations.

Though it does not itself contain environmental elements, the first conservation scheme applicable to Antarctica — the Agreed Meas- ures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora — was adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in 1964. The Consultative Parties subsequently developed the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (CCAS), which entered into force in 1978.

28 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE © http://www.grida.no/photolib/

Negotiations under the UN Conven- tion on the Law of the Sea raised concerns about the potential large scale exploitation of krill, which could have severe consequences for other Antarctic life which depends on it for food. The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which entered into force in 1982, provides for the conservation and rational use of krill, fin fish and other marine resources. Unlike other regional “... the development of a strategic guideline for future envi- organizations, ronmental policies in the Antarctic it is based on an ecosystem approach comprehensive regime Treaty Area. to conservation, and requires that effects on ecosystems be taken into for the protection In 2009 the Scientific Committee account in managing the harvesting on Antarctic Research published of marine resources. of the Antarctic environment its comprehensive study “Antarctic Climate Change and the Environ- In a similarly precautionary and dependent and ment”, a highly cross-disciplinary approach, the Consultative Parties effort, with the goal of “reflecting agreed to start negotiations on a associated ecosystems is in the the importance of the continent in comprehensive regime on global issues, such as sea-level rise, resources of Antarctica in 1981 to interest of mankind as a whole.” the separation of natural climate minimize the environmental and variability from anthropogenic political problems of unregulated years later in Madrid in October, influences, food stocks, biodiversity exploitation. The Convention on 1991 and entered into force in and carbon uptake by the ocean”. the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral 1998. It states that “... the develop- Resource Activities was concluded in ment of a comprehensive regime This year — the 50th Anniver- Wellington in 1988, but never went for the protection of the Antarctic sary of the Treaty’s entry into force into force since France and Australia environment and dependent and and the 20th of the signing of the declared the following year that they associated ecosystems is in the Protocol on Environmental Protec- would not ratify the contract. interest of mankind as a whole”. It tion — the Consultative Parties designates Antarctica as a “natural reaffirmed their continued commit- “The world had changed,” recalled reserve, devoted to peace and ment to upholding it and “their Michel Rocard, the former Prime science”, sets out basic principles intention to continue “strong and Minister of France. “Trends in applicable to human activities in effective cooperation” by inter alia, ecological policies have been Antarctica, and prohibits all activi- “continuing to identify and address appearing everywhere, the require- ties relating to Antarctic mineral emerging environmental challenges ments have widened. Two Prime resources, except for scientific and strengthening the protection of Ministers, linked by friendship, research. Up to 2048 it can only be the Antarctic environment and its Robert Hawke of Australia and modified with the unanimous agree- dependent and associated ecosys- myself, announce that they refuse to ment of all Consultative Parties to tems, particularly in relation to send the Convention to their Parlia- the Treaty, while the prohibition on global climate change and human ments for ratification and request mineral resource activities cannot activities in the region, including the opening of much more ambi- be removed unless a binding legal tourism.” They also appealed to tious negotiations. Italy and Belgium regime covering them is in force States that are party to the Treaty, followed immediately, but not yet to the Protocol, to ratify slightly later.” The Protocol established the it, thus “reaffirming their will to Committee for Environmental protect the Antarctic environment, This opened the door for negoti- Protection as an expert advisory in the interest of mankind as a whole ations on a Protocol on Environ- body to provide up-to-date advice and to preserve the value of Antarc- mental Protection to the Antarctic and formulate recommendations on tica as an area for the conduct of Treaty, which was signed only two implementing it and constitutes the scientific research”.

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 29 Kelly Levin

Research Director, World Resources Report 2010-2011 Adapting

Manish Bapna

Interim President, the Commons World Resources Institute

Environmental concerns have only rela- tively recently concentrated on the global commons, which are the shared resources that no one owns but all life relies upon. In the early days, the focus was mostly on local impacts — on tradi- tional pollutants such as acid and , on garbage damming rivers, or on pesticides. These problems were acute and tangible. Rivers caught fire and smog was so thick that visibility across cities vanished. True, the prob- lems of the global commons were rising in this backdrop, but it was not until later in the 20th century that the environmental challenge spread plan- etwide, when governments woke up to the reality of a rapidly trans- formed world. In a few short decades, global forces of consumption, produc- tion, and population have made a profound, at times irreversible, mark on the planet’s shared resources.

There is now no greater challenge to the wellbeing of the global commons than human-induced climate change. Since the industrial era began to trigger large-scale releases of fossil fuels, global average surface temperatures have risen by 0.8°C, already resulting in significant changes in physical, hydrological and ecological systems.

© Luo Hong © Luo

30 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE “Worldwide warming of 2-3˚C above Worse, global climate change is Over the past two years the 2010- not occurring in isolation, but pre-industrial temperatures is 2011 World Resources Report, is exacerbating other problems developed in partnership between of the global commons. As the very likely to herald UNDP, UNEP, the World Bank Intergovernmental Panel on Climate major changes in and the World Resources Institute, Change records climate-induced has engaged government leaders reductions in krill, for example, terrestrial and marine ecosystems and practitioners in Africa, Asia and lead to the depletion of many fish Latin America to learn from, and species, undermining, in turn, the and likely to increase build on, existing adaptation efforts. health of marine ecosystems, food It focuses on how national policy supplies and livelihoods around the risk of extinction for makers and planners can make better the world. The Antarctic Penin- decisions in a changing climate — an sula has warmed substantially in 20-30 per cent of species.” increasing priority for preserving the recent decades causing 87 per cent global commons, developing recom- of the edges of to retreat, These threats underscore an urgent mendations for public engagement, with grave implications for life on need for steep reductions in green- information collection and supply, the unique continent. Worldwide house gas emissions. They also institutional design, planning and warming of 2-3˚C above pre-indus- make adaptation an imperative, policymaking tools, and resources. trial temperatures is very likely given the unavoidable impacts It also reports promising examples to herald major changes in terres- that will result from the green- of how governments are integrating trial and marine ecosystems and house gases already emitted and climate change risks into their prac- likely to increase the risk of the warming that will in future tices, which could provide models for extinction for 20-30 per cent follow, thanks to the heat carrying scaling up adaptation in the devel- of species. capacity of the world’s oceans. oping world. These include: © Paul Nicklen/Corbis

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 31 © Luo Hong © Luo © Brytta/iStockphoto © Trinh Le Nguyen/Shutterstock Le Trinh © NAMIBIA SOUTH AFRICA VIETNAM

Farmers are engaged in a constant One of the world’s 17 mega- Being in the tropics, Vietnam struggle against the desert in diverse countries, South Africa is extremely vulnerable to Namibia: the driest regions is home to almost 10 per cent of impacts from climate change, receive on average only 20mm the world’s total known bird, fish particularly . So the of rainfall a year. With climate and plant species and almost 15 government has institutionalized change likely to bring even shorter per cent of its coastal and marine the large-scale restoration of rainy seasons in future, Namibia’s ones. Climate change threatens to mangroves — with support government has established local compound threats to biodiversity from donors including the Forums for Integrated Resource from urban and industrial growth, World Bank and the Management where farmers since there are likely to be more Red Cross — adding and extension service providers droughts and floods, lower river 15,000 hectares of protective exchange information about how levels and more frequent wildfires. forest to the country’s to help prevent land becoming coastline since 2001. infertile. Farmers monitor local So, South Africa is pursuing an rainfall, the availability of fodder innovative strategy for maintaining The results, however, have been and the condition of livestock, enough intact natural habitat to very different in the north and while officials provide guidance protect threatened species and south of the country. In the north, on sustainable farm management secure wildlife corridors. It has the plantations have been and good animal health practices. developed biodiversity plans, officially protected, denying Farming communities have mapping whole areas’ natural locals user rights, and also established rotational grazing features and species and use creating conflict and resentment. and rested grazing in danger of land and resources. Climate In the south, the restoration of degradation and — if informed change “design principles” have has been coupled with efforts a dry period is coming — sell live- been integrated into the plans, to alleviate poverty and stock, avoid over-grazing and bank prioritizing connectivity and diversify livelihoods — thus the income. Such two-way refuge areas to enhance the winning local communities’ information channels between resilience of species. Local support. The experience public officials and farmers help authorities use them in developing suggests that incorporating enhance the ability of communities municipal plans, helping them adaptation within a to withstand droughts and land to decide where conservation comprehensive development degradation, and can be replicated should be prioritized and where planning process is more likely both within and beyond Namibia. development can be promoted. to succeed in the long term. These case studies and other research can be found in full at www.worldresourcesreport.org 32 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE www Forests Global commons: www.unep.org/forests/ useful links Forests cover one third of the earth’s land mass, performing vital functions around the world. In fact, 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods. They This page contains links to websites from Governments, international play a key role in our battle against climate change. Forests feed our rivers and are organizations, non-governmental organizations, businesses, media essential to supplying the water for nearly 50 per cent of our largest cities. and other groups from around the world to help you research issues related to global commons. We have compiled these links from our own Forests Policy Brief review of the vast amount of information available on the Internet to www.unep.org/ecosystemmanagement/Portals/7/Documents/unep_policy_ help you to find the most relevant sources for your research. Our Planet series/5thUNEPPolicySeries.pdf magazine does not, however, endorse the viewpoints of any of the groups Forests have always been crucial to human life and economies, and they will to which we link, and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information become increasingly significant as the global human population grows. The entire posted on these sites. Rather, we hope to provide you with a broad range of global population depends on forests for their carbon-sequestering services and opinions and perspectives. critical role in supporting the growth of a global green economy. This policy brief seeks to outline how forests can be a key part of a green economy that provides opportunities for innovative solutions to .

Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone www.unep.org www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/BlackCarbon_SDM.pdf This assessment looks into all aspects of anthropogenic emissions of black carbon www.gpa.unep.org/ and tropospheric ozone precursors, such as methane and analyses the trends in Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land- emissions of these substances and the drivers of these emissions. based Activities (GPA-Marine) was adopted by the international community in 1995 and to prevent the degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer by facilitating the realization of the duty of States to preserve and protect the www.ozone.unep.org/new_site/en/index.php marine environment. It is the only global initiative directly addressing the connec- The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and its tivity between terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems. on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer are dedicated to the protection of the earth’s ozone layer. With 196 parties, they are the most widely ratified in UN www.unep.org/regionalseas/ history, and have enabled reductions of over 97 per cent of all global consumption The Regional Seas Programme aims to address the accelerating degradation of the of controlled ozone depleting substances. world’s oceans and coastal areas through the sustainable management and use of the marine and coastal environment, by engaging neighbouring countries in compre- www.unep.fr/ozonaction/ hensive and specific actions to protect their shared marine environment. The UNEP OzonAction Branch assists developing countries and countries with economies in transition to enable them to achieve and sustain compliance with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Montreal Protocol. www.unccd.int Desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem of concern to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change many countries in all regions of the world. The convention was formed to solve the www.unfccc.int problem of intensifying land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was formed to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever www.unep.org/desertification/successstories/ temperature increases are inevitable. The is an additional measure to Although desertification still remains a major environmental problem, impeding the UNFCCC. dryland development, there are also many projects and community-based initiatives which have successfully addressed these problems. UNEP Year Book 2011: Emerging Issues in our Global Environment http://www.unep.org/yearbook/2011/pdfs/UNEP_YEARBOOK_Fullreport.pdf Convention on Biological Diversity The UNEP Year Book 2011, examines global emerging issues and provides the www.cbd.int/ latest environmental science. It also highlights major environmental events and The Convention on Biological Diversity was inspired by the world community’s growing developments over the past year, and presents the most recent data and indicator commitment to sustainable development. It represents a dramatic step forward in trends. he UNEP Year Book 2011 is essential reading for anyone with a keen interest the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and in the future of our planet. the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

International Union for Conservation of Nature www.iucn.org Earth Summits Rio+20 Conserving biodiversity is fundamental to addressing some of the world’s greatest www.worldsummit2002.org/index.htm challenges: tackling climate change, achieving sustainable energy, improving human www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/ well-being and building a green economy. www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 33 My quiet epiphany took place as I floated in space far removed from the sounds, smells and tastes of Earth, touched only by the clothes on my body. My first view of the planet was, not surprisingly, over water, the reflecting from the glistening blue sheet of the Pacific Ocean, though I couldn’t hear the surf or taste the salt in the air. The light was piercing in its clarity with no atmosphere to soften the sun’s rays. The earth’s blue sky had been replaced by black, bordered by a thin band of fuzzy bright blue around the edge of the planet itself.

“We must understand that, though an integral part of the environment, we are observers and change-agents. We can induce and produce change in the environment, positivelyor negatively.” ROBERTA

34 OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE BONDAR

After observing the planet for spiritual, or moral philosophies. eight days from space, I have Humans attempting to hold the a deeper interest and respect environment in a steady state Dr. Roberta Bondar — the for the forces that shape our may withdraw the opportunity first neurologist in space and world. Each particle of soil, for natural evolution. We can, ’s first woman astronaut each plant and animal is special. however, try to protect other I also marvel at the creativity life forms from the superforce — flew in the space shuttle and ingenuity of our own of our technology, and the on the First International species, but wonder why we all challenges of human population Microgravity Mission in January cannot see that we create our including pressure on these 1992. For the next ten years future each day, and that our preserved environments. she headed an international local actions affect the global community, today as well as We need to find time and space medicine research team for generations to come. place for peace and spiritual working with NASA to support refreshment. We need reflective two dozen missions on the From space, to see the planet time so things that we do can space shuttle and the MIR without humans certainly can take on a higher significance space station and now has her be disconcerting. But we must and order. Perhaps we desire a come back to Earth changed, sense of purpose in life that can own foundation which aims to for only when we are on its be achieved through setting and inspire environmental learning surface can we see precious accomplishing goals. But we through the art of photography. , trusting animals, and also need perspective on our delicate butterflies. Humans own and our own mortality. should show their respect and This planet will after all, also be admiration rather than bring home to future lives with novel destruction and extinction. fears and challenges. The message should be clear. Because we have developed The expectations of future frightening technologies We do not have all the answers, generations are unknown except and evolved quickly into a but we continue to live and for one — survival. If we do not resource-depleting species, grow through the knowledge protect the human-friendly we have the ultimate gained by observing other forms environment of our planet, responsibility of protecting of life. That should be reason we eventually will fail to keep others from ourselves. enough to be proactive in caring our souls and even our bodies for our natural environment. nourished by our real home. We must understand that, though an integral part of the environment, we are observers and change-agents. We can induce and produce change in the environment, positively or negatively. Our beliefs, reasoning and wisdom are based on science and religious, Quttinirpaaq National Park in the most northerly lands of Canada’s Arctic and consti- ROBERTA tutes a true polar desert with only 60 ml of per year © Roberta Bondar

OUR PLANET THE PLANET WE SHARE 35 www.unep.org/ourplanet