Green Pulse Podcast: Saving biodiversity: It should be in our nature

In this episode, ST environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty talk to Dr David Cooper, who is deputy executive secretary, for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. PHOTO: UNITED NATIONS

Dr David Cooper, Deputy Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, addresses the media on Oct 10, ahead of the COP15 biodiversity conference in Kunming, China. The conference was held from Oct 11 to Oct 15. PHOTO: UNITED NATIONS

Updated

Published

Oct 18, 2021, 06:00 PM

Green Pulse Ep 60: Saving biodiversity: It should be in our nature

17:36 min

Synopsis: Every first and third Monday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

The world is full of amazing plant and animal life, without which humans could not survive. Nature, from forests to coral reefs, to soils and grasslands, provides humanity with food and materials to live. Yet nature is under great threat from our rush for resources to grow our economies and cities.

About one million species are now threatened with extinction, the United Nations' biodiversity panel says, with three-quarters of the land-based environment and about 66 per cent of the marine environment significantly altered by human actions. This week, delegates from around the world met virtually to discuss a new global deal for nature to limit the damage caused by environmental destruction, pollution and climate change.

In this episode, ST environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty talk to Dr David Cooper, who is deputy executive secretary, for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Dr Cooper is speaking to us from Kunming in China, which has been hosting this week's talks, the first round of discussions before a major in-person meeting in Kunming from April 25 to May 8 next year.

They discuss the following points:

What is the aim of the in-person COP15 biodiversity talks next year, and how will this month's virtual meet help in establishing a global deal for nature? (1:22)
What are the threats confronting biodiversity on land and in the sea today? (3:30)
How bad is the situation now? (4:48)
Why biodiversity conservation needs to involve more than just environment ministers. (7:20)
What are the links between biodiversity and climate? (9:45)
A carbon price is one policy tool to dealing with the climate crisis. What about putting a price on nature to help with biodiversity conservation? (13:07)
What can individuals do to help tackle the climate and biodiversity crises? (15:28)