Are we a drop in the ocean of nature conservation?

Posted on 17 October 2024

Nature is disappearing at an alarming rate and the earth is on the brink of several tipping points which, if current trends continue, will have catastrophic consequences on all life forms. The next five years as we get closer to the 2030 Agenda, will determine the future of life on earth.  

Contributed by Chimi Rinzin, Country Director, Kezang Yangden, Conservation Director, and Kinley Wangmo, Senior Manager, Communications & Marketing, WWF-Bhutan

Nature is disappearing at an alarming rate and the earth is on the brink of several tipping points which, if current trends continue, will have catastrophic consequences on all life forms. The next five years as we get closer to the 2030 Agenda, will determine the future of life on earth.  

This is the conclusion of the WWF’s Living Planet Report 2024, which provides in-depth insight into global trends based on decades of research and study of ecosystems and species. Environmental systems are undergoing profound upheavals because of climate change, pollution, and over-exploitation of natural resources. It paints an end-of-day picture but also emphasizes the power to change this otherwise imminent future, to restore the balance of nature. The latter is where our efforts should lie. But who is ‘us or ‘we’?   

For Bhutan, a dot on the globe but nonetheless a conservation champion, a persevering marathon runner who has put in years and decades of commitment to environmental conservation, what does this foreboding message mean? Are we simply a drop in the ocean? Or are we drops that make the ocean?  

Earlier this year, the Bhutan’s Status of Biodiversity in Bhutan: Results from the Biodiversity Monitoring Grids was launched by the Department of Forests and Park Services, Royal Government of Bhutan. This is a comprehensive scientific monitoring report done in the country, establishing that Bhutan’s nature is not only intact but flourishing as well.

Bhutan has a complex of ten protected areas connected by biological corridors. 

These protected areas have lived up to its name with indicators like increasing numbers of apex species tiger and snow leopard, and a thriving population of red panda, which indicates our ecological integrity. The recent red panda survey indicates that the biological corridors are used by the species, further corroborating the importance of such corridors for species interaction and health, and so has tiger survey report indicated. Biological corridors are another feather in the cap for Bhutan.  

Conservation efforts are a continuous process and the government’s effort in professionalizing the human resource, and adoption of innovative tools like SMART (spatial monitoring and reporting tool) and eDNA are indicative of Bhutan’s commitment to its global and national pledges. The NBSAP (National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans), the Constitution and the number of acts and policies that are favorable to nature conservation are not just in place but implemented, as demonstrated by the conservations wins.  

Globally, countries are pursuing the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30x30 target, a call for protecting at least 30 percent of planet’s land and water by 2030. Key global goals for a thriving and sustainable world include halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity, capping global temperature rise to 1.5°C and ensuring human well-being. Bhutan has 52 percent of its land as protected areas.

Bhutan’s effort deserves all the glory. But the consequences of climate crisis are already felt here with changing weather and rainfall patterns, looming threats of glacial lake outburst floods, and increasing incidences of landslides. The bubble is just too fragile. The impacts of loss of nature globally will be felt here. The implications, backtracking the conservation wins that have been amassed over years and affecting sustainability, which is already a challenge in the face of resource constraints, human-wildlife conflict, wildlife crime and habitat depredation.  

But we must come back to the question – what does these global trends mean for tiny Bhutan?

Are we, a tiny drop in the ocean, to abandon our commitment to protecting nature, feeling that our efforts are futile in the face of a crisis that disregards our efforts?

What we risk overlooking, if we limit our perspective to the perceived futility and lost economic opportunity that many often express, is that nature loss amplifies global warming, and climate change intensifies nature loss. The IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Sixth Assessment Report makes it clear: the climate crisis and biodiversity loss are interlinked, a vicious cycle that endangers us all. Without the protective shield of healthy ecosystems, we leave more people vulnerable to climate hazards. In Bhutan, where our economy is so closely intertwined with nature, we cannot afford to ignore this reality. Safeguarding our natural heritage is not just a moral obligation—it is essential for our survival and prosperity.

So how can we continue to embrace a development paradigm that doesn’t compromise the integrity of healthy natural ecosystems?

The answer may lie in harnessing the power of nature itself- leveraging natural ecosystems to boost biodiversity and improve human well-being. Nature-based and bankable nature solutions may offer us ways to address pressing societal challenges, including climate change, while simultaneously driving economic growth.

Nature-based/wildlife tourism for example has the potential to provide sustainable financing mechanism to maintain our protected areas while providing economic returns. With specific enabling conditions in place, nature-based and wildlife tourism could contribute to Bhutan's sustainable economic development, generating foreign exchange, jobs and income for communities, and financial resources for protected area management.

And as Bhutan explores the different dimensions of innovation and sustainable development that is both mindful and transformative, once again showing global leadership in rethinking growth that is attuned to the needs of our evolving society, it becomes pertinent that the health of the biodiversity and ecosystem must be front and center in ensuring that our progress in not only forward-looking but also sustainable.

As the government embarks on the 13th Five-Year Plan implementation with people, progress and prosperity in focus, the biodiversity monitoring findings in the context of the global biodiversity outlook is critical.  

Just as the Living Planet Report offer a global snapshot of biodiversity health, Bhutan’s own biodiversity monitoring through the comprehensive grid-based framework would allow us to track and assess the state of our biodiversity and nature. Together with periodic assessments of biodiversity health, nature-based solutions are crucial for shaping a future where environmental stewardship and sustainable progress go hand in hand.

Forests

Are we a drop in the ocean of nature conservation?

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