The Half-Earth Project: Why the Humans are Frustrated, But We Aren’t. According to Lydia E.O. Wilson

Lydia is a woman in Washington, DC. There are more pieces of her work that can be found here. The author of this commentary has the right to their opinions in this commentary. View more opinion at CNN.

When I first learned that October 22 marks Half-Earth Day, I thought it was because the date is six months to Earth Day. (True.) But it’s got a message all its own.

The Half-Earth Project was created by Harvard Biologist E.O. Wilson, who died in 2021. In “Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life,” Wilson wrote: “We would be wise to find our way as quickly as possible out of the fever swamp of dogmatic religious belief and inept philosophical thought through which we still wander. Unless we learn more and protect it more quickly, we will soon lose most of the life on Earth.

As this vitally important convention gets underway, here is what we know: Because of human activity, life on Earth is undergoing an extinction crisis approximately 1,000 times faster than natural rates, according to a landmark study published in Conservation Biology. 1 million species are at risk of extinction according to the Intergovernmentalscience-policy platform on biology and ecology. A 2019 Science paper led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reports that North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds — 29% of the continent’s total — since 1970, and BirdLife International shows nearly half of all birds declining worldwide.

The E.O Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory – located in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, which was once decimated by civil war and other human ills – provides a blueprint not only for rebuilding biodiversity but also training new biologists and conservationists. The Half-Earth project also involves indigenous communities – which have traditionally balanced human needs with nature – in their programs, bringing together past and present, to work together towards a durable plan for our future.

Attacking a problem of this scale requires all of us to come together and we must be seated in government and board rooms. Too often, solutions can be used with political agendas in mind. “Meanwhile, we thrash about, appallingly led, with no particular goal in mind other than economic growth, unfettered consumption, good health, and personal happiness,” Wilson wrote. He placed his faith in nature, and we should too.

To move people to action, Jennifer Morris, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, thinks it’s important to talk about what matters to them, citing health care, clean air and jobs. Morris spoke at a recent Half-Earth Day conference hosted by Smithsonian Institution and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, bringing together government, community, corporate and conservation stakeholders like The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, and supporters like the Bezos Earth Fund. “Governments aren’t going to move until people move,” Morris said.

The problems are thorny, however: even high-minded efforts can provoke Mother Nature. Morris said that clean energy projects slated to take out thousands of acres of trees are the biggest threat to forests in Virginia. “We can be smart where we put solar and wind … in a way that doesn’t undermine biodiversity,” Morris added.

While the first Earth Day took place in 1970 to celebrate conservation efforts, Half-Earth Day is more of a caution. Whatever your beliefs on climate change, this much is clear. We’re losing whitetip sharks and harpy eagles, the inspiration for ‘Fawkes’ in the Harry Potter films. Gone are the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rodent whose habitat, food source and nesting sites were eradicated by storms and unprecedented flooding. You will never see a pink dolphin, but the interplay of plants, animals and insects sustains us.

We can’t ignore what the birds are telling us. Audubon CEO Elizabeth Grey says that since she is in her 50s, we lost three billion birds. Birds are key for healthy land and water, even if they are in trouble.

Jane Alexander was once the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. She has served on the boards of Audubon, Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Bird Conservancy. Alexander is the author of a book titled Wild Things, Wild Places. She is a multiple award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actress. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. CNN has more opinion articles.

How Many Years Have We Lived in Nova Scotia and Where Do We Go Today? An Ecological Impact Report of the Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons

From my home in southwest Nova Scotia, I look out on the warming and rising Atlantic Ocean with alarm. The nursery to many aquatic species in the kelp forest, was struggling with temperature during the summer. This continued years of decline in this precious aquatic ecosystem.

Many birds were killed by the avian flu on the beach by my home, like eiders and guillemots.

The local trees are giving way to the new trees that aren’t as dependent on seed cone production.

I am also a board member of the National Audubon Society which is an organization involved in saving nature and I’m going to theCOP15 in Montreal for this reason.

We are tearing holes in the fabric of life on Earth that supports our own human lives. We rely on Earth’s diverse and varied forms of life to provide food, medicine, clean air and water, our mental health, inspiration, and materials for great feats of art and engineering.

There is hope. In my lifetime, bald eagles and peregrine falcons have rebounded from mid-20th century crashes due to widespread use of the insecticide DDT which caused birds to thin and break their eggshells. Banning the pesticide led to their recovery.

Climate Action, Water and the Environment: Towards a Global Biodiversity Action Plan for the Future of the Earth, the United States and Canada

Canada needs to have a strong agreement to protect global biodiversity. We can take three steps to reach that goal.

There are very, very painful stories about howIndigenous people have been killed, taken out of their territory, and forced to extinction, because of expansion or the establishment of protected areas. She represents the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity.

We must protect and restore our northern forests if we want to limit global warming and avert the worst impacts of climate change. Landscape architecture in urban areas is the same as for wetlands, grassland, tropical forests, marine and temperate forests. The recently announced White House nature-based solutions roadmap is an encouraging start.

In the face of extraordinary circumstances world governments must commit to extraordinary action. Apathetic half-measures simply will not do — too much is at stake. We need robust, meaningful commitments coming out of Montreal.

To get the job done, you need funding that can be committed. An analysis by the Paulson Institute estimated the biodiversity financing gap at an average $711 billion per year worldwide for 10 years. And it’s not just putting funds to work proactively — we also need governments to phase out subsidies that prop up nature destruction and greenhouse gas emissions.

Another example of ambitious thinking and action is the 30 by 30 initiative, which challenges world governments to protect 30% of lands and oceans by 2030. More than 100 countries support this global goal, including the US and Canada.

30×30: Indigenous People’s Rights and Rejuvenation in a Canadian Lives. Contributed to the Paper by A. Corpuz

The restoration and rejuvenation of my home in Nova Scotia has turned out to be a partnership between me and a bane of my existence. A lot of animals are thriving thanks to the beaver dam. Beavers were once a threat to extinction because of overhunting. Life finds a way if we are given a chance.

This is because of people being removed from protected areas due to associations of tree-twirling. Millions of people were displaced from their homes because of human rights abuses during the 19th century.

In the current draft of the text, which will be completed at the end of the conference over the weekend of December 17, the exact role of IPLCs when it comes to 30×30 is still being contested. Many are cautious—and these are the people who have the most to lose.

Corpuz is keen to start a new chapter, and supports the 30×30 target. We are here to tell the world that we cannot achieve ambitious targets without fully respecting and protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples. We cannot achieve 30×30 without Indigenous peoples, I cannot overstress it,” she said.