Nature is at last getting traction on the global climate stage - but is this purely an echo-chamber?

Observations on week 1 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties 23, Bonn, Germany

“To get anywhere close to delivering on the Paris Agreement needs nothing short of a global transformation in which the economy is built not on destruction of natural resources but careful stewardship of biodiversity and ecosystem services." Johan Rockstrom at COP23

I’ve been attending various side events over the past three days and I’ve been encouraged by the number of events with a nature theme, in particular on the role of forests in climate change mitigation or adaptation. 

There are a number of studies now indicating that over 30% of the mitigation goal could be reached by restoring and maintaining our natural forests, and that those forests can confer resilience on humans, and help us adapt to the effects of climate change. 

There’s a sense that the message is finally getting through that we cannot deliver on the Paris Agreement without massively scaling up the restoration and protection of natural habitats. And indeed, over 60% of ratifying countries commit to nature-based actions in one way or another.

I have also been encouraged by presence and the power of the indigenous voice. Yesterday, I went to a session on indigenous people and the climate pledges of Paris Agreement signatories (the so-called "Nationally Determined Contributions".  Amazonia is incredibly important for global climate and resilience; we lose Amazonia, we lose the fight against climate change. But the interesting thing about Amazonia is the >30% falls within indigenous territories, and rates of deforestation within those territories is an order of magnitude slower than outside. So to really raise ambition on Paris, indigenous people need to be central to the design and implementation of climate policy across the globe.

The message that nature-based solutions are important is being loudly trumpeted in the "Bonn Zone" where all the NGOs are gathered. But this zone could be described as the echo chamber. The sense I get is that over there, in the "Bula Zone", where the negotiations are taking place, there is mainly silence on the issue. This needs to change.