What is COP26?

COP26 is the United Nations Conference of the Parties. The 26th installment of this event will  be hosted this year in the Scottish city of Glasgow from 31st October to 12th November 2021.

The summit brings together governments from across the globe in a collaborative effort to take decisive action on climate issues. Over 180 world leaders will collectively analyse and review their commitments to environmentally focused policies. Some of this will focus on meeting the goals set by the 2015 Paris Agreement. This unique legally binding treaty, established at COP21 saw countries across the world agree to work towards limiting the earth’s warming to below 2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels, with the preferable aim of capping warming at 1.5 degrees increase.

The Paris Agreement- 5 Years On

There is much speculation and criticism of the summit, with notable climate activist Greta Thurenburg saying she “doesn’t expect much” from the summit. 

The 2015 Paris Agreement saw 196 countries make pledges to take action on climate change- yet by 2020, only 44 of those countries finalised these vague commitments by submitting nationally determined contributions to the UN, which sets in stone how and to what extent each country intends to cut carbon emissions over the next five years. 

The pledges made back in 2015 were acknowledged to be insufficient in meeting the agreed goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees- it was agreed that bigger commitments would need to be made. But five years later, big emitters including China and the US have not even registered their determined plans to cut carbon at the rate they pledged in 2015, let alone increase their commitments to make limiting the Paris Agreement viable.

2. Providing Extreme Weather Resilience

The benefits of healthy ecosystems go far beyond carbon capture- they aid the resilience of human societies on a global level.

• Wetlands provide water purification, habitats for wildlife, and flood prevention worth up to $15 trillion USD.
• Forests and watersheds provide flood defences via rain capture, and can also regulate temperature.
• Rivers have natural flood management systems which organically expand and decrease with water fluctuations, a procedure which is threatened as we continue to urbanise. 

It is vital now, more than ever that we prioritise the restoration of ecosystems which can mitigate the impact of extreme weather occurrences, which are becoming more and more frequent. 2021 has seen a series of freak weather events which have caused complete destruction and countless loss of life. From increased precipitation causing Germany’s worst natural disaster in half a century, to the heatwaves that sparked the worst wildfires in Russia’s history and the droughts which are now causing the world's first ‘climate change famine’ in Madagascar, we are now seeing the effects of climate change play out. The International Panel on Climate Change reported the human induced warming of the planet causing extreme weather as ‘an established fact’.

By restoring and protecting natural ecosystems, we can build resilience to increasing weather extremity and save trillions of dollars globally.  It’s estimated that restoring upland forests and watersheds could save the world’s 534 biggest cities $89 million USD each year.

Mobilising Finance for Nature Worldwide

So far, global funding towards nature-based solutions has been very limited- only 3% of global finance, which is contributed to by the EU and other big carbon-emitting countries currently goes towards it, with a mere 1% being spent on adaptation. There is some indication that this could be about to change- the EU ahead of COP26 claims that funding nature-based solutions across the world is one its biggest climate policies. It emphasises working with, rather than against nature to come up with cost effective solutions to climate problems, which include global temperature rise, the loss of the earth’s natural resources (including clean air, soil and water), and unsustainable urbanisation. 

There are some projects already underway. The EU’s Horizon 2020 scheme funds some environment focused projects such as NATURVATION, which seeks to understand and implement nature-based solutions to climate problems across a variety of European cities. NATURVATION has created the Urban Nature Atlas, a map which compiles all the nature-based projects that have been completed or are taking place across Europe, and beyond right now. Projects range include the restoring of Mil Leat, a naturally occurring waterways to provide habitats for local ecosystems in Cornwall  to a green corridor with rainwater recovery system in the Ecodistrict Plateau de Haye in France.

It is clear, however, that more needs to be done, and quickly.

1. Vote With Your Money

The power of the consumer can never be underestimated, especially in the consumption focused societies most of us live in. Therefore, choosing who to give your money to, based on their environmental credentials as a business is a great way to exercise your environmental impact. 

Big businesses thrive off  unsustainable models and materials, and are world leaders in destroying habitats and wildlife. Boycotting such companies, and opting to support the few companies who have environmental commitments built into their business model is an excellent way to protect nature. Cargill, an American food corporation named ‘the worst company in the world’ by NGO Mighty Earth in 2019. Through its production of beef and soy it is responsible for the destruction of the Cerrado, Grand Chaco and Amazon ecosystems across Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. It sources cocoa that is illegally grown in protected national parks in Cote D’ivoire and Ghana, whilst in Indonesia and Malaysia it buys palm oil from companies that illegally clear rainforests. It’s customers include Mcdonalds, Unilever, Walmart, Target, Stop and Shop, and is one of the top 10 polluters of the US food industry. Though Cargill representatives purport to want to tackle environmental issues, in reality they have refused to properly address the issues brought up in the Mighty Earth report. 

Alongside Cargill, there’s plenty of other multi-national companies which exploit natural resources for profit, even those who claim to be working towards sustainability. The CPD Consumer Deforestation Report shows that of 22 large global brands looking to meet the net zero deforestation by 2020 target set by the World Goods Consumer Forum, only 8 had started implementing tactics to support this such as regenerative farming and soil management. The worst performers for deforestation included Yum! Foods, which owns brands including Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, and Kraft Heinz which owns brands ranging from Philadelphia to Heiz and Capri Sun. 

It is important to note that these companies are so successful because they can produce goods at such a low cost to the consumer, making them viable for lower income households. Yet this should not come at the cost of the environment- companies could make affordable products which do not cost the earth. To do this, they must either choose, or be incentivised by governments to prioritise the planet and people over profit. 

3. Support Rewilding

Supporting rewilding can be done through a variety of means, and will aid the UN’s 30/30 pledge by helping to increase and protect the habitats in which whole structures of animal species thrive. You could

• Aid rewilding missions by volunteering to help plant trees or clean up natural spaces local to you, to help nature thrive where you live.
• If you want to bring nature even closer to home, you could also have a go at rewilding your own garden which will benefit not only the earth, but your personal well being too. 
• Lobby your local political representative and your local government to take up the UN pledge for nature, and add your own name to the list of supporters.
• Support the right reforestation projects. Those that use monocultures and non-native species could be contributing to disastrous impacts on nature. Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of choosing an initiative where tree planting is done wrong, and how to check a project’s real impact.
• You can also support rewilding projects or sign up to be a Mossy Earth Member and directly contribute to interventions specifically dedicated to restoring natural ecosystems through reforesting and rewilding projects across the world. Learn about a series of ongoing impactful projects including the protection of Madagascar’s Alaotran gentle lemur , monitoring reintroduced European Bison and restoring sea otter populations of California’s coast.