What do African forest elephants, leatherback turtles in Guyana and river trout in mainland France have in common? The answer is that all three have been highlighted in the latest Living Planet report from the World Wide Fund for Nature. They are linked in a far from positive way, as the report says they are part of a long list of endangered species of wild vertebrate populations that have declined by 73 percent since 1970 alone. That report as global environmental leaders gather in Colombia for COP16, the UN's biodiversity conference. In Perspective, we spoke to Chief Executive Officer for WWF France Véronique Andrieux.
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Now it's time for perspective, and what have African forest elephants, leatherback turtles
00:04in Guyana, and river trout in mainland France got in common? Well, the answer is that all three have
00:10been highlighted in the latest Living Planet report from the World Wide Fund for Nature.
00:14They are linked, as you might have guessed, in a far from positive way, as the report says they
00:19are part of a long list of endangered species in that report that says that 73% of wild vertebrate
00:26populations have declined since 1970 alone. Now that report says global environmental leaders
00:32gather in Colombia for COP16, it's the UN's biodiversity conference. We're joining me here
00:37on set his chief executive officer for the WWF here in France, Veronique Andria. Thanks very
00:42much for coming in and talking to us today. First of all then, tell us what your report
00:46says about wild vertebrate populations. Well, we can see a steep decline in wildlife
00:52populations, on average 73% in the past 50 years, so that tells us that we are failing
01:00to bend the curve of nature loss and that the key drivers remain unabated, in particular
01:07unsustainable food production and consumption. I mean, it's interesting seeing the report as well,
01:11you know, you kind of get used, if you like, if that's the right word, to hearing about African
01:16elephants, to hearing about leatherback turtles, that kind of thing, but you even, you know, talk
01:21about river trout, for example, here in France. Yes, indeed. Well, some species are really, well,
01:27we achieve to maintain some species stable, some others even increase, but that remain like kind
01:34of isolated cases. The overall trend is a decrease, steep decrease, and indeed the trout is a very
01:41good example, over 50% lost, and also, well, in other regions, other geographies are very,
01:50suffer the worst decline, in particular Latin America and the Caribbean, and indeed freshwater
01:54species. I mean, it's incredible those figures, isn't it? 50% decline in 50 years. I mean, when you look
02:00ahead, how pessimistic does that make you? Well, we definitely need to, you know, to engage in
02:09collective action. It is urgent and we need action at scale, and we know the solutions. I mean, as I
02:15said, the drivers are known, like the IPBS says, it's mainly the unsustainable food production
02:21and consumption. It's also natural resources overexploitation and climate change. So we
02:29definitely need to reset the food system, in particular by eating more plant-based protein,
02:37and also by shifting to agroecological transition. We know that the industrial intensive
02:44agriculture model today is responsible for 80% of the deforestation, 70% of water use,
02:50and 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. So we know the solutions. Is that viable though? I mean,
02:56to persuade people, if you like, to change their diets? Well, it is about behavioural change,
03:04but the main responsibility lies within governments and business and corporates.
03:10So that's where the pressure needs to be. And actually, the COP16 is opening today
03:18for two weeks of negotiations, and it is an implementation COP. As you remember, in 2022,
03:25there was the Kunming-Montreal agreement with fairly specific targets on all sectors that drive
03:35nature loss, including agriculture and diets. So yes, it can be done. It can be done, but in two
03:41years, has anything been done? As you say, a lot of agreements were reached. Now, two years on,
03:46we're having an implementation conference. Does that not show that actually not much has changed
03:52in two years? Well, indeed, at WWF, we've been tracking the national biodiversity strategies
03:58and action plans. And what we see is that there's only about 10% of countries that have really
04:03submitted a decent NBSAP, I mean, a decent strategy and targets aligned with global
04:10biodiversity frameworks objectives. So we're putting pressure so that governments deliver.
04:18There's also a key challenge around funding. I mean, funding needs to be poured into
04:26developing countries. And so that's a responsibility of rich countries like ours in France.
04:30Picking up something you said there, only 10% of countries. I mean,
04:33does that not show that the whole idea of the COPs just doesn't work?
04:39Well, most of the work is done in the last minutes and last days before the COP. So we'll
04:45have to see. But yes, indeed, it is very important to keep up the pressure and also to make sure that
04:52there is funding so that these national objectives can be delivered against. We're also putting
04:58pressure so that these strategies and action plans have, well, the right funding allocated,
05:04but also very specific targets and that they encompass many sectors, including agriculture,
05:11mining, infrastructure, and so on. How do you keep people's minds on the
05:15ecological problem? I mean, at the moment, we've been reporting just over the last half hour,
05:19the latest situation in Ukraine, the latest situation in Gaza, the latest situation in
05:23Lebanon. Does the environmental issue, if you like, get put on the back burner too much,
05:29do you think? Well, indeed, that's what we've been seeing,
05:32in particular in France, in Europe, and actually, I would say across the world. Indeed, we're living
05:37in a multi-crisis environment. And so it's easily the climate and nature crisis go through the
05:43cracks. But it is our responsibility to really understand that this is, I mean, the challenge
05:48of our generation. And indeed, when we, for instance, when we release the Living Planet
05:55Report, the Living Planet Index, this abundance index is an early warning indicator of the
06:01extinction risk. And when we say species, natural habitats, it is actually about us that we're
06:07talking, because we just can't deliver without healthy ecosystems. It is 80% of the sustainable
06:15development goals that are at stake if nature is not thriving. And it is over 50% of the global
06:21GDP. So it is really us that we're putting in danger by not delivering against nature targets.
06:28Yeah, one of those phrases that you use is tipping point, saying that that's really what we're
06:33getting to. And it's a phrase we hear a lot, isn't it? Is this the crucial tipping point,
06:38if you like, that we're at now? Well, a tipping point is like,
06:42when for one of us, like getting into a burnout, and indeed, nature is on the brink to burnout.
06:49And we see that in a number of spots, like, for instance, the Amazon rainforest,
06:55we've lost 17% of it already. And the threshold of 20-25% would mean a tipping point. And that
07:03would mean that the rainforest would not be able, for instance, to play ecosystem services and its
07:09functions like carbon storage, for instance, and perform as a climate mitigation driver.
07:18So indeed, there is a likelihood that we are getting close to some of those tipping points,
07:27provided that we keep business as usual and the current trends continue.
07:32Good to have you with us on the programme today. Thank you very much for coming in and talking to
07:35us. Veronique Angier, Chief Executive Officer for the World Wide Fund for Nature here in France.
07:40Thank you very much.