Remarks prepared for delivery at the opening of the Third session of the Science-Policy-Business Forum ahead of the Fifth UN Environment Assembly.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Third Global Session of UNEP’s Science-Policy-Business Forum, which will focus on ‘Integrated Solutions for Nature’. This theme hits the nail on the head because nature is in trouble. In a few hours, UNEP will release the Making Peace With Nature report. This report lays out the full scale of the climate crisis, the biodiversity and nature crisis, and the pollution and waste crisis.
We still have not done enough to avoid a hothouse Earth, with climate impacts growing stronger every year. Nature and biodiversity decline is threatening our efforts on everything from poverty reduction to healthy people – and was a contributing factor to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our outdated economic growth models leave a toxic trail of pollution and waste in their wake. We throw away 50 million tonnes of e-waste every year, roughly equal to the weight of all commercial airliners ever made. Marine plastic pollution, meanwhile, has increased tenfold since 1980 and makes up 60-80 per cent of marine debris.
We are heating, destroying and choking the planet, placing our own health and prosperity at grave risk. We must get on top of the three planetary crises. So, please let me offer three thoughts on how we can get the job done.
First, we need to adopt a whole-of-society approach.
The scale of the economic and financial transformation we need to create a healthy planet means every elected official, company, investor and individual must play a part. This is why this forum is important. You are here to build partnerships. Link science and policy, and spark action in the private sector. We are seeing movement. Through initiatives like the Principles for Responsible Investment and the Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance, investors have promised to decarbonize portfolios worth trillions of dollars. I look forward to seeing these promises put swiftly into practice. And as we seek this whole-of-society approach, multilateralism must also evolve – towards a more inclusive and networked process that brings far more under our big tent – to solve humanity’s biggest challenges. Last year, to mark the 75th anniversary of the UN, a massive UN engagement exercise found that the majority of people want more international cooperation and solidarity, not less. Young people want a greener, more just future. Multilateralism is a powerful tool in our solution toolbox. But we must all up our game and act on our good intentions.
Second, science must reform to be more open, accessible and available.
Science has defined our problems and given us solutions. But science can always improve. Without strong science that travels, we cannot influence unsustainable consumption and production patterns that underpin the three planetary crises. Science must seek out more diverse opinions and experiences. We must digitize scientific knowledge and democratize availability so that more people can access and use it.
Third, and linked to the above, we need to accelerate the digital transformation.
A digital transformation is central to UNEP’s new medium-term strategy, for many reasons. Big data and new technologies can support real-time monitoring of the environment. Help consumers adopt more sustainable behaviour. Create sustainable value chains. So, it is exciting to see that your first session is on big data and exponential technologies. I welcome the Big Data, Earth Observations and Technology communities to UNEP and look forward to hearing about and embracing new opportunities for using exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Everybody at this event has a role to play in making peace with nature. Science can come up with innovative solutions. Policy can put them into practice. And business can use them to transform our economic systems so that it benefits the planet and every person on it. This is your task. And it begins anew today.
Thank you.
Executive Director
