24th July 2026
When ecosystems flourish they are rich with biodiversity. Conversely diminishing biodiversity causes ecosystems to fail. Currently biodiversity globally is in decline. In 2022 world leaders met to address this issue and the outcome was the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The headliner was that the national signatories undertook to restore for nature 30% of land and of sea by 2030 – abbreviated to 30by30. This is a huge undertaking – a highly necessary one – but perhaps not surprisingly it is something nations now struggle to meet.
The whole planet is one large ecosystem in which water flows, plants grow, fish swim, birds fly, carbon circulates, rocks erode etc etc. Is this a thriving ecosystem? Nine key measures have been identified by which to assess the health of the earth’s ecosystem – and are known as planetary boundaries. One of these boundaries measures fresh water. If we consumer such water at a slower rate than it is replenished by the earth’s ecosystem, we can be assessed as living within the limits of that planetary boundary. If we consume fresh water at a faster rate, then we are assessed as living beyond the limit of that boundary. Not only is this (and we have indeed exceeded this planetary boundary) damaging to the earth’s ecosystem it is also threatens our survival too (or rather the survival of the most vulnerable people).
The other eight boundaries are – climate change, biosphere integrity (which assesses both biodiversity levels and the rate at which we extract resources such as timber, cereals etc), landuse change (balance between natural and human use), nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, aerosols in the atmosphere, ozone depletion, pollution of novel entities (manmade compounds such as plastics). Of these nine planetary boundaries, we are now living beyond the safe limits of seven – only with respect to ozone depletion and aerosol levels in the atmosphere, are we living within safe limits.
What we also know is that these nine areas are interconnected. Accelerating climate change adversely impacts biodiversity and freshwater systems. Out of balance landuse impacts both climate change and biodiversity. And so on.
However we have so often seen ourselves as humans as being above and outside these ecosystems. We are the ones who instead control and manipulate ecosystems to maximise our gains. We are the ones who determine what is good for humans and what is not, who select what should grow and what should be uprooted, who take without giving back. It is this failure to see ourselves as part of and dependent on the multiple layers of ecosystems, that has brought us to situation where we are living outside the safe boundaries of the planet.
Another way of viewing this is by looking at the date of Earth Overshoot Day. This day marks the point in the calendar when we have used up a year’s worth of the planets renewable resources (eg freshwater, clean air, fish, timber ……..) This year Earth Overshoot Day is July 30th. After that we are living in the red. This means for example, vis a vis freshwater, that we will be drawing on our capital of fresh water – water taken from aquifers that cannot be replaced. This means that some people will live with inadequate water supplies, and their crops and livestock will die. This means that wild animals, birds and insects will die.
If this were a financial issue, we would be obliged to pull in our horns, to spend less and save more. But as we don’t pay – financially for many of these goods and services – there doesn’t seem to be any formalised way in which the global community is addressing this debt crisis. We should also note that this debt is not being shared equally. A large number of the people from the poorest and most remote communities are bearing the bulk of the pain, whilst a far small number of people are continuing to live ever increasing lives of wealth – lives, in effect, of decadence. Where do I fit in? It could be as a middle class white western person be in the latter group.
To return to the 30by30 target, it seems obvious that it cannot be tackled in isolation but needs to be part of lifestyle revolution that recognises and works with the understanding that all ecosystems are interdependent and that humans are just one feature of each ecosystem of which they are a part. I don’t think this observation makes the challenge any easier but it would ensure a greater likelihood that any policies of reform would actually work.
I don’t know of any country that is taking a wholistic approach. Here in the UK the likelihood that we will restore biodiversity to safe, sustainable levels by 2030 seems highly unlikely. Not least because it is not being approached as part of a national ecosystem.
For example, to restore 30% of land such that nature can flourish, cannot happen without also looking at landuse – how much land can we safely use to graze livestock and grow fodder, as well as growing enough grain, fruit and vegetables to feed our population? If – as we would – have to reduce us the amount of land used to produce meat and dairy products, will we also look at our diets? Will we switch to a diet rich in plants and low in meat and dairy?
Again will we at the same time look at how we use water? Changing how we use the land could have a positive impact on our use of fresh water supplies. But we should at the same time look at how water is used by industries, and especially by data centres. Conversely will we note that restoring nature across wide tracts of land will improve water retention by the land, improve flood resilience, reduce loss of water via evaporation during heat waves etc? Will we note that restoring nature across wide tracts of land will improve access to green spaces which we know improves mental and physical wellbeing? Will we note that plant rich diets will significantly improve people’s health?
It is surely within the capacity of human kind to restore a right relationship with the planet’s ecosystems such that not just our lives but the lives of those with whom we share this planet, can flourish sustainably?
The Green Tau 