Six years after the Paris Agreement, Parties at COP26 must urgently agree on how to close the current mitigation gap to limit temperature rise to 1.5ºC. To keep the 1.5ºC goal in reach we need urgent, ambitious action BOTH to phase out fossil fuels as soon as possible AND to preserve and restore natural ecosystems which are a major carbon sink. Crucially, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) are the custodians of much of the world’s precious biodiversity and, in the efforts to pursue 1.5ºC, their rights must be protected and their voices heard and centred.
The IPCC AR6 report clearly highlights that land and ocean sinks have absorbed over half of our carbon emissions over the last decade, and warns that the climate crisis threatens the ability of ecosystems to act as carbon sinks and risks turning them into sources of emissions. Even if we immediately eliminated fossil fuels, the emissions from agriculture, increased deforestation, forest and land degradation, and other land use changes would severely hamper our chances of staying below 1.5°C.
Nature is not a new topic for Parties. In Madrid they underlined “the essential contribution of nature to addressing climate change and its impacts and the need to address climate change in an integrated manner” (1/CP.25, paragraph 15). The Convention and the Paris Agreement also contain major provisions related to nature, including Article 4 paragraph 1(d) of the Convention and Article 5.1 of the Paris Agreement: now is the time for Parties to operationalise these.
At this COP, the UK Presidency has made nature one of its 5 “campaigns”. On day 2 of the World Leaders Summit, the high-level Forests and Land Use event will include the launch of the “Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use”. ECO welcomes the commitment to reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. But political declarations are only helpful if they go beyond promises. Successful nature outcomes at COP26 will also depend on the inclusion of nature in the formal negotiations, with the adoption of decisions that drive political ambition and tangible action, and ensure we keep the possibility of keeping below the 1.5ºC limit.
Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems are essential components of ambitious climate action for both mitigation and adaptation, which must be recognised in the COP26 decision text. Not only will taking care of our precious ecosystems help us achieve our climate goals but it will also build the resilience of communities to the worsening effects of climate change. Widespread loss and damage is already occurring, and the needs of vulnerable communities, including safeguarding the land, freshwater and seas on which they live and depend, must be made central to decision making.
Crucially, any role for nature must reflect the following important principles: ambition to protect and restore nature must be alongside, not instead of, eliminating fossil fuels; the rights of IPLCs must be upheld and their role recognised, including through increased funding for IPLC land tenure and forest management; all ecosystems must play a role; and investment must be made in biodiverse and carbon rich ecosystems, not monoculture tree plantations.