Zhu Chunquan, World Economic Forum: Increase ecological protection and restoration efforts to support food security

Kunming, October 17 (Reporter Yang Xiufeng) "The World Economic Forum's New Natural Economy Report has pointed out that more than half of the world's GDP is moderately or highly dependent on natural capital and ecosystem services, and all walks of life are directly or indirectly dependent on biodiversity. During the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) Ecological Civilization Forum, Zhu Chunquan, head of the Greater China region of the World Economic Forum's global public goods platform, told reporters. Zhu Chunquan told reporters that in the past few hundred years, human beings have experienced four industrial waves, the demand for nature has been increasing, and the ability to intervene in nature and change nature has been continuously enhanced. Changes in land and ocean use, overuse of living resources, climate change, environmental pollution and invasive alien species are the five direct drivers of global biodiversity loss. Currently, one-third of the land area is used for agricultural and agricultural production, and the number of animals raised by humans far exceeds the number of wild animals in nature. The global population is already approaching 8 billion, and this figure is predicted to exceed 9 billion by 2050. How to curb biodiversity loss and achieve transformational development of natural benefits is a hot topic of global concern. For nearly 30 years, research has been active in areas related to the accounting of the value of natural assets, biodiversity and ecosystem services, in particular the accounting and assessment of the value of ecosystem services. Zhu Chunquan said that taking food as an example, between 2000 and 2018, global annual food consumption increased by 48%, and it is expected to continue to grow in the future. Food, land and ocean use systems produce food and other material products needed for human survival and are major drivers of biodiversity loss. In addition, these systems are responsible for more than 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and are a significant risk to biodiversity, freshwater and the world's forests. Deforestation and forest degradation affect the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people who depend on forests, 1 billion of whom are among the poorest people in the world.

Zhu Chunquan said that if there is no fundamental change in the current mode of production, life and consumption, the scope and intensity of human changes in nature will also increase day by day. He called for a sustainable transition based on natural solutions to support food, energy and ecological security.

This article originated from China Economic Network