Time to rethink relationship with nature

The United Nations' top science panel on biodiversity this month released two major reports that underscored humanity's increasingly precarious relationship with nature. The first showed how interlinked the lives and livelihoods of billions of people are to wild animal and plant species. One in five people relies on wild plants, algae and fungi for food and income, and one in three depends on fuel wood for cooking. But over- exploitation, habitat destruction, poaching and illegal trade in plants and animals are threatening many species and undermining the livelihoods of many people.

The second report looked at the urgent need to re-evaluate how humanity values nature, finding that the narrow economic criteria used currently have led to widespread destruction, pollution and loss of significant areas of forests, wetlands and other spaces, including places of cultural and spiritual value to local communities.