Biodiversity is being lost on a massive scale globally and locally in many local areas. This is happening both on land and in the oceans. The scientific evidence on this and the risks it brings, is rapidly accumulating at the species, habitat and ecosystem level.
There is also fast growing understanding of the many ways that biodiversity loss and climate change are connected and the impact both will have. And many people globally are concerned about the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
This has led to a growing international consensus that this is a critical decade to stop and reverse the decline of nature and to set ambitious targets for where we need to be by 2030 and in decades to come. Nature-Positive is the term being used to describe a world where nature: from the species to the ecosystem level, is being restored and is regenerating, rather than declining. It requires minimising and removing the drivers fuelling the degradation of nature and changing the way that our economies and societies operate.
The Nature Positive approach provides a focus for target setting for embedding nature into decision making, planning, resource flows, monitoring and accountability in international agreements, government policy, business and the financial sector. Many conservation and scientific organisations, local communities and networks are playing a vital role, including those providing a voice for indigenous leaders and young people. Innovative solutions and practices are being rapidly developed and exchanged, alongside the sharing of case studies of successful interventions.
This course is part of the Oxford University Summer School for Adults (OUSSA) programme.