Newsweek — Better Planet
December 12, 2023
For all the focus on technology to combat climate change, we have no greater ally than Mother Nature. In the closing days of the United Nations COP28 climate talks, conservation scientists stressed the importance of forests, grasslands, oceans and other ecosystems to absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"The science is clear. Conserving nature is absolutely essential if we are to reach global climate goals," Campaign for Nature Director Brian O'Donnell said in a press briefing, adding that the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) rests in large part on natural systems. "There is no pathway to 1.5 degrees without a major effort to conserve and restore nature."
Work by the research organization Earth Insight shows that even protected forests are not always free from the threats from resource extraction.
"Our findings show that there are nearly 1,000 protected areas that have ongoing or planned fossil fuel extraction projects within their boundaries," Earth Insight Executive Director Tyson Miller told Newsweek.
