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Wildlife populations are dwindling across much of the world, and the number one cause is habitat loss. A bold new proposal to stop this decline is presented.
About The Population Factor:
A series of key conversations examining the connection between our planet’s growing population & related issues. Expect to be educated on a range of topics including climate change, wildlife preservation, immigration policy & consumption patterns.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
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Wildlife populations are dwindling across much of the world, and the number one cause is habitat loss. A bold new proposal to stop this decline is presented.
About The Population Factor:
A series of key conversations examining the connection between our planet’s growing population & related issues. Expect to be educated on a range of topics including climate change, wildlife preservation, immigration policy & consumption patterns.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
Follow Us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxmedia/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxmedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EarthXMedia/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@earthxmedia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EarthXMedia
How to watch:
United States:
- Spectrum
- AT&T U-verse (1267)
- DIRECTV (267)
- Philo
- FuboTV
- Plex
- Fire TV
#EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Ecofriendly #Conservation #EarthX
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TVTranscript
00:00Wildlife populations are declining across much of the world, and the number one cause
00:05is habitat loss.
00:07Today on The Population Factor, we discuss a bold new proposal to arrest this decline.
00:13Nature needs half.
00:15Our guest is Amy Lewis, Vice President of Communications and Policy with The Wild Foundation.
00:30Welcome back.
00:53Wildlife populations are declining across much of the world, and the number one cause
00:57is habitat loss.
00:59Today on The Population Factor, we discuss nature needs half, a bold new proposal to
01:05preserve half of Earth's land and seas as protected areas, free from intensive human
01:10use.
01:11Our guest today is Amy Lewis, Vice President of Policy and Communication for The Wild Foundation.
01:18Amy, welcome to The Population Factor.
01:21Thank you for having me, Phil.
01:23It's my pleasure to be here.
01:25If you could, give us an overview of biodiversity trends in recent decades.
01:30What are the trends and what are the causes of those trends?
01:34Yes.
01:35So the overarching trend is very simple.
01:38We are losing biodiversity at an extraordinary rate.
01:43We have not seen the loss of biodiversity at this rate in millions of years.
01:51So this is much higher than the background rate.
01:54And usually these types of events are preceded by some type of catastrophe, a meteor striking
02:00the Earth or something to that effect.
02:03What's happening now, however, is that this is human driven.
02:07And it's actually happening at a speed that is typically much faster than what we witness
02:16when we see ships in the biodiversity of the planet.
02:23So are you saying that people are the catastrophe this time around?
02:27I think I've seen a comic of this comic strip where it basically says that people are simultaneously
02:33the meteor and the dinosaurs.
02:37So we are the catastrophe and we are ultimately going to be the major casualty of this.
02:45How do we know that numbers of animals, plants, different species are declining?
02:52Do we have a good sense of how much is being lost and how fast?
02:56Oh, absolutely.
02:58And I mean, around the world, we are seeing just extraordinary amounts of scientific data
03:06emerging showing the loss of both species, the loss of biodiversity from the boreal forests
03:14down to the tropical forests, to the oceans.
03:18And these impacts aren't just observed by scientists, they're being felt on the ground
03:25in communities around the world.
03:27So as a bird watcher, I was very struck by a study that came out, I believe, two years
03:33ago that said over the last 50 years in North America, we have lost 3 billion wild birds
03:41that would have been here 50 years ago that are no longer living.
03:46That's just a spectacular loss.
03:49And I know that's happening in other parts of the world as well.
03:52Yes.
03:53And I mean, the numbers I've seen is that we've lost close to 70% of the biomass.
04:00In terms of biodiversity, it's not just the entities and the life forms, but the relationships
04:05that they form within an ecosystem.
04:09And while some of those are still relatively intact in terms of variety and diversity,
04:15the numbers have been so reduced that we're looking at a very tattered and frayed picture
04:22of the biosphere.
04:25So that's the problem.
04:26What are the main drivers of this loss of biodiversity?
04:30Well, in conservation, it's really sexy to talk about poaching and hunting.
04:37But in fact, the primary drivers of biodiversity loss are generally totally legal.
04:47And it's the destruction of habitats around the world, making way for roads and new farms
04:54and ranches and developments.
04:58This makes up over 80% of the biodiversity loss on the planet.
05:04So it's interesting that we tend to focus on maybe some of the more spectacular things
05:08we do wrong.
05:10But if I'm hearing you correctly, a lot of what we're losing is simply a factor of things
05:16going well and sort of normal operations.
05:20We build houses for people.
05:21We raise crops for people.
05:22We build roads.
05:23We add another lane to a road.
05:26That's really what's driving other species down.
05:30Yes.
05:31And it's in some ways understandable that we don't want to talk about it because it's
05:37legal.
05:38It's part of our way of life.
05:40For many people, it's understood to be an entitlement.
05:43But that is absolutely what is causing the mass extinction crisis that we're facing now
05:50and is also contributing significantly to climate change as well.
05:56There are several studies that show that if we were to halt deforestation tomorrow, just
06:03stop cutting down forests, we would reduce our carbon emissions, our annual carbon emissions,
06:11by between 10% to 20%.
06:13That's a significant cut.
06:15So this isn't just affecting animals in the rainforest or on the African belt.
06:25This is affecting us in our cities and towns because nature and climate make up a dual
06:31system that, again, supports the biosphere and life.
06:36So I think we're getting into the issue of some of the co-benefits of preserving more
06:41natural habitat.
06:43But let's back up a little bit and talk about the Nature Needs Half proposal.
06:48Can you tell me a little bit?
06:49Can you give viewers a general outline of that proposal?
06:53Right.
06:54So Nature Needs Half has actually been around for a long time.
07:01And if we go back and look at what Indigenous leaders have been telling us for decades,
07:08we're going to see they may not be using the word half, but they're speaking about sharing
07:13the planet, about reciprocity, about taking what we need from nature, but also leaving
07:20enough for nature to support her needs and to support our needs in the future.
07:27It was Reid Noss in the 1990s who made the first call to do this globally at a planetary
07:35scale, basically recognizing that everything is interconnected and that should we lose
07:41the services in one ecosystem that affect another ecosystem, then we jeopardize the
07:48entire biosphere.
07:49We're looking at a chain reaction of collapses between ecosystems.
07:54And then back in 2009, the Wild Foundation made the first global call to protect half.
07:59So we're looking at this goal of preserving half of all habitats in protected areas.
08:07The latest figures I've seen, and you probably are more up on this than me, but I've heard
08:12that in the oceans, we're preserving perhaps 4% in protected areas, very small percentage.
08:19And then terrestrially, we're maybe at 15 or 16%.
08:22Now, even taking terrestrial habitats, we're a long way from half.
08:28Is there a practical path towards humanity preserving half earth?
08:33Yes.
08:34And so just to go into a little bit more into where we're at right now, the targets that
08:41were set globally back in Aichi at the last convention on biological diversity were 17%
08:50terrestrial and 10% marine.
08:53And these were actually really significant jumps from where they had been, which there
08:58was basically 0% marine, and I think it was like three or 4% terrestrial.
09:04But everybody knew at the time that it wasn't enough, that this was a political target.
09:12And so we are at approximately 10% on paper, at least for marine.
09:20A lot of those places don't have the enforcement and the funding that they need to actually
09:24protect them.
09:25Okay.
09:2610% marine protected area.
09:28That's a little bit better than I had thought.
09:30Yes.
09:31Yes.
09:32I mean, it's 10% on paper.
09:34In actuality, what's actually being protected, 4% sounds more accurate.
09:39I see.
09:40So everyone knew that these were political targets and that they weren't nearly enough,
09:46but they were adopted based on political feasibility and not ecological feasibility.
09:53Sure.
09:54So Nature Needs Half then is saying, this has to be a political process, but we need
10:01to listen to what the scientists are telling us we need in order to actually avoid a mass
10:06extinction.
10:07Yes.
10:08And in fact, we still have approximately half of the planet left intact.
10:15There are absolutely vitally important ecosystems that must be restored.
10:21But at the moment, we're sitting on about 26%, 27% really high quality wilderness.
10:31And we're sitting on another 35% of shared lands that while they're shared with human
10:41communities, those ecosystems are still functioning as intended.
10:48So part of getting to Nature Needs Half is setting up more protected areas.
10:54I think part of it, if I'm hearing you correctly, is going to have to involve rewilding areas
11:00that we've used perhaps intensively in the past, but we want to allow them to regroup
11:08naturally.
11:09100%.
11:10And this is really a historic endeavor.
11:14The most important thing is that we protect what remains.
11:18We can't afford to lose the remaining high quality areas.
11:21We must protect that.
11:23We also need to restore and rewild the areas that are of vital importance.
11:30And that is probably the biggest step that we can take towards combating climate change
11:37at the moment.
11:38So there are going to be benefits to dealing with climate change as well if we can start
11:46rewilding these areas.
11:50Has that argument helped Nature Needs Half gain some traction?
11:55It seems to me that often these days, environmentalism pretty much means fighting climate change.
12:01I think that might be a mistake.
12:03There are lots of other issues as well.
12:05But with the scientists saying that these kinds of efforts can help us with climate
12:11change, is that opening up more possibilities for governments to start getting behind this
12:17initiative?
12:18I hope so, because actually protecting half the planet is probably the most efficient,
12:26the fastest, biggest step we can take to addressing climate change.
12:31But I'm wondering, what's the connection between setting aside more land for nature
12:35and human numbers?
12:39In order to achieve Nature Needs Half, do we have to stabilize our population?
12:44I think that in order to achieve any of our environmental goals, we have to stabilize
12:51both our consumption and our population.
12:55I think in the past when we've discussed population issues, there's been these two camps, consumption
13:03versus population.
13:07It's been treated as an either or, and we can't do that anymore.
13:12We have to seriously look at both.
13:16The reason for this is even though we all live on one big blue sphere, we're not all
13:24dealing with the same limitations and challenges in our ecosystems as the person next to us.
13:30I'm thinking about many places in Africa, actually, in Central Asia, some of the driest
13:36areas in the world.
13:38If population is not addressed in those areas, we are looking at humanitarian calamity like
13:44none we've seen before.
13:46There simply isn't the water to support populations, higher populations in those areas.
13:54That doesn't mean that we can't start eating a vegetarian diet globally.
14:01There aren't things we can't do to address our consumption and slow the pace of the oncoming
14:11challenges that we're experiencing now and that we're going to experience.
14:18Without addressing population, especially in some very specific areas, it's not going
14:25to bode well for humans.
14:26I really like your point though that population and consumption aren't an either or issue,
14:33that we need to deal with both of them.
14:36I want to ask you something about your work with the Wild Foundation because you spend
14:40a lot of time making the case for nature needs half.
14:44I would think you might want to make the case for that and not talk about population
14:49or consumption because that might get people's backs up.
14:56Is that a tricky balancing act for you?
15:00It is.
15:03I don't shy away from discussing population issues, but the focus is definitely on nature
15:11needs half and protecting half the planet.
15:15Here's the thing.
15:16The ultimate goal of nature needs half was never an area-based target, 50%.
15:22The ultimate goal of nature needs half is a healthy and respectful and sustainable relationship
15:29with nature.
15:32There's a whole host of things that go into that besides just setting aside half the planet
15:38for nature and for the traditional lifestyles that live well and sustainably within a wild
15:46and natural context.
15:47I love that way of putting it because what you're saying is it's very important to set
15:54aside more land for other species.
15:56That's part of being respectful, but curbing our pollution is also respectful, finding
16:03alternatives to single-use plastics.
16:07That also has to be part of the equation here.
16:10Again, it's not just a one-size-fits-all kind of answer to our problems.
16:15Right.
16:16At a bare minimum, we need to have half the planet left intact to support life and to
16:22support human civilization, but that's just a starting place.
16:26That's not where it ends.
16:29What are some of the objections that you hear to the nature needs half proposal?
16:38There's objections from the environmental camp, and then there's, of course, objections
16:42from the non-environmental camp.
16:46The objections from the environmental camp largely surround the rights of local communities
16:51and indigenous peoples.
16:54That is 100% valid concern.
16:59In the past, conservation has not handled those issues well.
17:03That being said, the nature needs half movement is informed by indigenous leaders.
17:09We work with indigenous leaders, and we recognize that the 100% right and autonomy of indigenous
17:18people over their traditional lands is good for the planet, and we encourage that.
17:25The concern of people would be that moving lands into protected area status would take
17:31control away from indigenous groups.
17:35You're saying you're not looking to do that, but let me ask you a question.
17:39What if an indigenous group has control over its land, and it wants to cash out to an oil
17:45company?
17:47That's just as bad if it's indigenous leaders as corporate executives, right?
17:54Yeah, it is.
17:58You're 100% right.
17:59I think there's a role for government in those situations to come in and say, okay, well,
18:06instead of cashing out with the oil company, let's cash out into a protected area.
18:11Do you think enhancing the rights of indigenous people is a pretty good bet to help biodiversity
18:17as well?
18:19Not just enhancing their rights, that has to be done, but also elevating their leadership.
18:25Right now, about 40% of Earth's remaining wilderness and its highest quality biodiversity
18:31areas are stewarded by 5% of Earth's population, indigenous communities.
18:38I think there's something that we could learn from them on how they've been able to do that,
18:44and something we can learn from their life ways.
18:46I think supporting traditional life ways is an absolutely essential part of achieving
18:53half.
18:56What about the objections of non-environmentalists to nature needs half?
19:02I think the objections of non-environmentalists, I've heard a few of them last week actually,
19:07is where's going to be the land to grow our food and to build our homes?
19:14Housing prices in the United States are already soaring.
19:18How can we set aside so much of Earth and still afford to live?
19:25Right.
19:26But many of these issues aren't actually housing prices.
19:30They're not driven by a lack of land to build on.
19:34They're driven by the locations that we want to live in, those prices.
19:39Those areas aren't wild areas.
19:41Those areas tend to be urban and overdeveloped.
19:48Improving city planning, improving how we develop, improving affordable housing and
19:52accessibility, those are things that can be done without even touching nature.
19:58I don't think that's going to be an issue.
20:02In terms of agriculture, there was a study that came out in the Eat Lancet Journal at
20:08the beginning of 2019 that showed we can actually support feeding a planet of 9 billion people
20:16by bringing no further lands under cultivation if we just simply shift to a global plant-based
20:24diet.
20:26Again, if we are really concerned about those issues, we also need to critically look at
20:32our consumption.
20:35This brings us back around full circle because you've just said with efficiency improvement,
20:41changes in consumption patterns, we now, and even with a billion more people, could actually
20:48achieve half Earth.
20:50But with seven or six or four billion people, it might be easier to achieve nature needs
20:58half.
20:59I didn't say we could achieve half Earth with 9 billion people.
21:05I don't know about that.
21:08What the Eat Lancet said is that we could feed a planet of 9 billion, but again, we
21:16would need to look at water supply, we would need to look at soil fertility, a lot of other
21:22factors.
21:25We have to look at the regional impacts of population.
21:28It's not simply the global footprint that we have to examine.
21:32Certain regions are far more fragile, far more vulnerable, less resilient.
21:37It's a good point.
21:38We talk in terms of global populations rising or falling, but of course, different regions
21:45can be looking at very different futures.
21:47Unfortunately, some of the most biodiverse parts of the planet are actually places that
21:54also have rapidly growing populations.
21:58Amy Lewis, it's been wonderful to talk with you today.
22:01I just was wondering, are there any other issues that you think we should discuss?
22:06Any other points you wanted to raise?
22:09I would like to mention the more voices that we can bring into this dialogue in support
22:14of HAP, in support of Motion 101, the more likely world leaders are to listen to us and
22:20to have the courage and resolve to take a chance and actually support science versus
22:28supporting more politically feasible targets.
22:32Amy, thank you so much for appearing on The Population Factor.
22:38Thank you so much, Bill, for having me.