00:00Now it's time for perspective, and what have African forest elephants, leatherback turtles
00:04in Guyana, and river trout in mainland France got in common? Well, the answer is that all three have
00:10been highlighted in the latest Living Planet report from the World Wide Fund for Nature.
00:14They are linked, as you might have guessed, in a far from positive way, as the report says they
00:19are part of a long list of endangered species in that report that says that 73% of wild vertebrate
00:26populations have declined since 1970 alone. Now that report says global environmental leaders
00:32gather in Colombia for COP16, it's the UN's biodiversity conference. We're joining me here
00:37on set his chief executive officer for the WWF here in France, Veronique Andria. Thanks very
00:42much for coming in and talking to us today. First of all then, tell us what your report
00:46says about wild vertebrate populations. Well, we can see a steep decline in wildlife
00:52populations, on average 73% in the past 50 years, so that tells us that we are failing
01:00to bend the curve of nature loss and that the key drivers remain unabated, in particular
01:07unsustainable food production and consumption. I mean, it's interesting seeing the report as well,
01:11you know, you kind of get used, if you like, if that's the right word, to hearing about African
01:16elephants, to hearing about leatherback turtles, that kind of thing, but you even, you know, talk
01:21about river trout, for example, here in France. Yes, indeed. Well, some species are really, well,
01:27we achieve to maintain some species stable, some others even increase, but that remain like kind
01:34of isolated cases. The overall trend is a decrease, steep decrease, and indeed the trout is a very
01:41good example, over 50% lost, and also, well, in other regions, other geographies are very,
01:50suffer the worst decline, in particular Latin America and the Caribbean, and indeed freshwater
01:54species. I mean, it's incredible those figures, isn't it? 50% decline in 50 years. I mean, when you look
02:00ahead, how pessimistic does that make you? Well, we definitely need to, you know, to engage in
02:09collective action. It is urgent and we need action at scale, and we know the solutions. I mean, as I
02:15said, the drivers are known, like the IPBS says, it's mainly the unsustainable food production
02:21and consumption. It's also natural resources overexploitation and climate change. So we
02:29definitely need to reset the food system, in particular by eating more plant-based protein,
02:37and also by shifting to agroecological transition. We know that the industrial intensive
02:44agriculture model today is responsible for 80% of the deforestation, 70% of water use,
02:50and 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. So we know the solutions. Is that viable though? I mean,
02:56to persuade people, if you like, to change their diets? Well, it is about behavioural change,
03:04but the main responsibility lies within governments and business and corporates.
03:10So that's where the pressure needs to be. And actually, the COP16 is opening today
03:18for two weeks of negotiations, and it is an implementation COP. As you remember, in 2022,
03:25there was the Kunming-Montreal agreement with fairly specific targets on all sectors that drive
03:35nature loss, including agriculture and diets. So yes, it can be done. It can be done, but in two
03:41years, has anything been done? As you say, a lot of agreements were reached. Now, two years on,
03:46we're having an implementation conference. Does that not show that actually not much has changed
03:52in two years? Well, indeed, at WWF, we've been tracking the national biodiversity strategies
03:58and action plans. And what we see is that there's only about 10% of countries that have really
04:03submitted a decent NBSAP, I mean, a decent strategy and targets aligned with global
04:10biodiversity frameworks objectives. So we're putting pressure so that governments deliver.
04:18There's also a key challenge around funding. I mean, funding needs to be poured into
04:26developing countries. And so that's a responsibility of rich countries like ours in France.
04:30Picking up something you said there, only 10% of countries. I mean,
04:33does that not show that the whole idea of the COPs just doesn't work?
04:39Well, most of the work is done in the last minutes and last days before the COP. So we'll
04:45have to see. But yes, indeed, it is very important to keep up the pressure and also to make sure that
04:52there is funding so that these national objectives can be delivered against. We're also putting
04:58pressure so that these strategies and action plans have, well, the right funding allocated,
05:04but also very specific targets and that they encompass many sectors, including agriculture,
05:11mining, infrastructure, and so on. How do you keep people's minds on the
05:15ecological problem? I mean, at the moment, we've been reporting just over the last half hour,
05:19the latest situation in Ukraine, the latest situation in Gaza, the latest situation in
05:23Lebanon. Does the environmental issue, if you like, get put on the back burner too much,
05:29do you think? Well, indeed, that's what we've been seeing,
05:32in particular in France, in Europe, and actually, I would say across the world. Indeed, we're living
05:37in a multi-crisis environment. And so it's easily the climate and nature crisis go through the
05:43cracks. But it is our responsibility to really understand that this is, I mean, the challenge
05:48of our generation. And indeed, when we, for instance, when we release the Living Planet
05:55Report, the Living Planet Index, this abundance index is an early warning indicator of the
06:01extinction risk. And when we say species, natural habitats, it is actually about us that we're
06:07talking, because we just can't deliver without healthy ecosystems. It is 80% of the sustainable
06:15development goals that are at stake if nature is not thriving. And it is over 50% of the global
06:21GDP. So it is really us that we're putting in danger by not delivering against nature targets.
06:28Yeah, one of those phrases that you use is tipping point, saying that that's really what we're
06:33getting to. And it's a phrase we hear a lot, isn't it? Is this the crucial tipping point,
06:38if you like, that we're at now? Well, a tipping point is like,
06:42when for one of us, like getting into a burnout, and indeed, nature is on the brink to burnout.
06:49And we see that in a number of spots, like, for instance, the Amazon rainforest,
06:55we've lost 17% of it already. And the threshold of 20-25% would mean a tipping point. And that
07:03would mean that the rainforest would not be able, for instance, to play ecosystem services and its
07:09functions like carbon storage, for instance, and perform as a climate mitigation driver.
07:18So indeed, there is a likelihood that we are getting close to some of those tipping points,
07:27provided that we keep business as usual and the current trends continue.
07:32Good to have you with us on the programme today. Thank you very much for coming in and talking to
07:35us. Veronique Angier, Chief Executive Officer for the World Wide Fund for Nature here in France.
07:40Thank you very much.
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