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The Nature Conservancy is developing partnerships with governments and organizations based in Europe to achieve mutual goals for global conservation. Our efforts focus in three main areas:
- Increasing sustainable development,
- Building consensus for action on climate change, and
- Strengthening public policy to catalyze conservation.
Increasing Sustainable Development
To support a growing sustainable development agenda, we seek partners to invest in and implement high impact, broad-scale projects across the regions where we work. We find solutions that work for people and nature, such as:
- Creating networks of marine protected areas designed to withstand climate change, enhance food security and help protect against coastal disasters.
- Developing “water funds” that invest water-use fees into community forest conservation efforts that protect city watersheds and keep the water supply sustainable.
- Working with indigenous people to protect forests and reduce the emissions that deforestation would otherwise create.
The success of our work depends upon our strong relationships with indigenous communities, local and regional governments. Through these solid foundations, we are building models for sustainable development that contribute to the Millennium Development Goals.
Building Consensus for Action on Climate Change
The Conservancy supports an international climate agreement that dramatically reduces emissions from all major emitters and all sources. We are leading a coordinated strategy to build the political will needed to win against climate change, using our unparalleled network of supporters in all 50 U.S. states to influence the design and enactment of effective U.S. climate policy that fits within an international framework.
Because destruction and degradation of forests cause approximately 20 percent of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions, we call for any meaningful solution to climate change to also reduce emissions from forest destruction, particularly in tropical forests. Safeguarding forests also protects habitat for endangered wildlife, provides safe drinking water for people, and supports millions of families who rely on forests for their livelihoods.
But even if we stop deforestation now, impacts from climate change are still happening. The communities most vulnerable to climate change are also those most dependent on nature for their survival. Securing the ecosystem services is one of the best and fastest ways to strengthen and secure people’s livelihoods and reduce their climate vulnerability. These ecosystem-based adaptation strategies are generally more cost-efficient, less likely to fail, and help provide food, fresh water and storm protection.
The Conservancy is a recognized leader in finding nature-based solutions to fighting climate change:
- We develop innovative solutions to help strengthen nature’s resilience to climate change and maintain ecosystem services;
- we create scientifically proven methods to measure and monitor the amount of carbon stored in healthy forests; and
- are the only non-governmental participant in the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which is helping prepare forest-rich nations for a future forest carbon market.
Strengthening Public Policy to Catalyze Conservation
In many instances, sustainable development efforts have had too little emphasis on the conservation of the lands and waters needed for long-term sustainability of communities around the world. With the onslaught of climate change and other growing threats, there is an urgent need to more strongly connect policies around biodiversity conservation, climate change and development.
The Nature Conservancy is actively engaged in policy development under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). We have a strong focus on the Protected Areas Program of Work, and are also involved with marine conservation, inland waters, island biodiversity and invasive species among other areas.
In collaboration with the Secretariat of the CBD, we work to inform government decisions and assist governments in achieving the commitments they have made. We participate in over 25 national-level partnerships with governments, community organizations and other NGOs to create, finance and effectively manage expanded systems of protected areas.
Over 35 new protected areas have been created covering over 22 million hectares. A major component of this work is expanding attention to the social issues of protected areas such as governance, participation, equity and benefit sharing.
With the end date for the 2010 biodiversity target approaching, the next biodiversity convention (Japan 2010) is an important opportunity to renew global commitments to conservation. The Nature Conservancy will collaborate with governments and other organizations to establish a new global framework that protects biodiversity so that it can adapt to climate change and secure ecosystem services for people around the world.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Rick Hyman (Copenhagen); Photo © European Community (European Union Flag).
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