As the world is grappling with economic crisis brought by COVID-19 pandemic, UNEP report ‘Making Peace with Nature,’ developed by a team of over 50 world-renowned scientists, led by Ivar Baste and Robert Watson, and including Prof. Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal and supported by a doctoral student Ms. Tooba Masood of AIT, suggests an opportunity to rebuild a sustainable future for all.
Making Peace with Nature, released on February 18, 2021, lays out the gravity of these three environmental crises by drawing on existing key global assessments, including those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of which AIT Prof. Dhakal is a part, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook report, the UNEP International Resource Panel, and new findings on the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19.
The authors assess the links between multiple environmental and development challenges and explain how advances in science and bold policymaking can open a pathway towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and a carbon neutral world by 2050 while bending the curve on biodiversity loss and curbing pollution and waste, to which Prof. Dhakal has contributed to an assessment of Sustainable Cities and Communities.
“Transforming humankind’s relationship with nature is the key to a sustainable future even more in the context of making sustainable cities and communities,” says Prof. Dhakal. He also added, “Embracing nature-based solutions, promoting enhanced access to services such as clean water and energy and public transport, and making infrastructure and buildings in close harmony with nature in cities and communities are crucial”.