Restoring global nature: UK leadership at the UN nature summit - a podcast by Conservative Environment Network

Panel: Ruth Edwards (Chair), CEN MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee; Lord Goldsmith, International Environment Minister and CEN Alumni; H.E Malik Amin Aslam, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Climate Change; Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, former Chancellor of the Exchequer; Kate Norgrove, Executive Director of Advocacy and Campaigns at WWF; and Stanley Johnson, CEN International Ambassador and former Conservative MEP.

The UK has the opportunity to play a leading role in securing ambitious international agreements at the two major environmental summits this year - on nature in China and on climate in Glasgow. Climate change and biodiversity loss continue to worsen around the world, with the world’s surface temperatures in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record and average wildlife populations falling by two-thirds since 1970. We know that nature provides significant services for people, from the food we eat, to the air we breathe and beyond. Its loss threatens our very existence, and so the success of these summits will be crucial if we're to hand on a healthy environment to future generations.

Post-Brexit, Britain rightly wants to take an increasingly active role on the world stage; no issue is more important for UK global leadership than the environment. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meets in Kunming, China this year to agree on a new set of global biodiversity targets  to protect and restore the natural world. While politicians and the public increasingly recognise the importance of the UN climate summit which the UK is hosting in Glasgow, the equally important nature summit in China isn't as well publicised. As president of the COP26 climate summit and the G7 this year, we have the opportunity and responsibility to better link up international negotiations on climate and biodiversity.

What does a successful outcome from the nature summit look like? How can we secure a global agreement to deliver the Prime Minister’s commitment to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, and protect 30% of land and seas for nature's recovery by 2030? This webinar will also consider how to ensure stronger recognition of the integrated climate and biodiversity crises, what role the UK can play in securing these ambitious global agreements, and if we are doing enough to restore nature domestically to lead by example. It will also consider the importance of the recently published Dasgupta Review into the economics of biodiversity, and how we should better account for nature in economic decision-making to strengthen our resilience to future shocks and improve public wellbeing.

Further episodes of CEN Talks

Further podcasts by Conservative Environment Network

Website of Conservative Environment Network