The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, with the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and the National Geographic Societys Campaign for Nature, organised a webinarfor the officials and representatives of the ASEAN Member States. (Screengrabbed from ACB)

LAGUNA, July 10 -- Carving out 30 percent of the Earths surface for protection can be the wisest economic decision that the world will ever make as the nature sector drives the global economy, experts said.

The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, with the National Geographic Societys Campaign for Nature and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), recently organised a webinar titled Making the case for protecting at least 30% of the planet by 2030: the biodiversity, climate, and economics of 30by30,with officials and representatives of the ASEAN Member States in attendance.

Among the webinars resource persons wereCosta Rica Minister of Environment and Energy Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, National Geographic Society Explorer in Residence Dr. Enric Sala, Campaign for Nature Director Brian ODonnell, Professor Zakri Abdul Hamid,founding chair of theIntergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)andco-chair the Secretariat of Malaysia's Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council, and ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim.

ODonnellin his presentation gave a preview of the groundbreaking global report, which lays out the economic costs and benefits of protecting 30 per cent of the planet by 2030. The report on the comprehensive study led by Anthony Waldron of Oxford University and 100 other experts, was published on 8 July 2020.

The zero draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which was released in January 2020, calls for the protection of 30 percent of the Earth surface in 10 years, or touted as 30by30.

Most people think that protected areas are going to be a drain on the global economy. But this report showed that the nature sector is, in fact, a net contributor, not a drain, ODonnell said.

The tourism sector, which includes nature-based tourism, is one of the drivers of global economic growth, outweighing the impacts of other sectors, such as agriculture, timber, or fisheries.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was growing at 4 to 6 per cent annually, while agriculture and timber industries have been growing by less than 1 per cent and the fisheries sector posting negative growth,ODonnellexplained.

Apart from these economic benefits, 30by30 also provides nonmonetary benefits, such as climate change mitigation, flood protection, clean water, and soil conservation.

ODonnell said according to the global report, which ran different scenarios of biodiversity conservation for terrestrial and marine areas, the financial and economic benefits of protecting 30 per cent of the planet exceed its costs by a factor of 5 to 1. This means that for every dollar cost of nature conservation, the economic benefit is equivalent to five USD.

To meet the proposed target of protection, USD 140 billion globally every year should be set aside.

Small fraction of global GDP

Minister Rodriguez did a quick math and pointed out that while the figures sounded like a huge sum of money, the amount is a mere 0.16 percent of the Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the combinedgross nationalincome of all the countries in theworld.

There is no excuse for us not to mobilise resources to be able to achieve our goal in the next 10 years, said Rodriguez, who has been selected as the next CEO and Chair of theGlobal Environment Facility.

The governments of Costa Rica and France are leading theHigh Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a grouping of nations pushing for the proposed 30by30 global target.

Rodriguez spoke about how Costa Rica doubled the size of its forest cover and at the same time tripled its economic growth in 30 years.

I come from a country that has systematically invested in policy development, institutional solutions that balance nature conservation, human wellbeing, and economic development, he said, emphasizing the short window of opportunity to address the biodiversity collapse.

Rodriguez underlined the correlation between establishing ecotourism protected areas and efforts to restore degraded landscapes, and the growth of the countrys economy and income per capita.

In Costa Ricas case, 2.5 million tourists visit the country every year and spend around 3.5 billion USD in total, according to Rodriguez.

Effective management

Sala, meanwhile, stressed the importance of effectively managing protected areas, saying only five per cent of the worlds terrestrial protected areas and one per cent of the marine protected areas are considered to be effectively managed.

When protected areas have higher budget and number of personnel, and active and effective management, they not only restore biodiversity effectively, they provide benefits including jobs for local people through tourism, fisheries; they bring in more economic revenues, Sala said.

In her opening remarks, Lim said the onlinediscussion on the science and rationale behind the proposed target will help the ASEAN region determine its own contributions to the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and define its priority actions to ensure the agreed targets are met.

Lim stressed that setting aside protected areas still remains as one of the most effective ways to tackle biodiversity decline.

Although we are crafting the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, we are not reinventing the wheel. The ASEAN Member States, all of which are parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, have shown considerable commitment to achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, particularly Target 11, whichcalls for the protection of at least 17 percentof terrestrial and 10per cent of marine areas by 2020, Lim said.

Professor Zakri, on the other hand, noted some of the challenges of biodiversity conservation in the ASEAN region, such as poaching, lack of conservation staff, the need for coordinated efforts in transboundary protected areas, and funding for conservation programmes.

The post-2020 global biodiversity framework will be adopted bytheConference of the Parties to the CBD in its 15thmeeting, which was originallyscheduled to take place in October this year, in Kunming, China.

The 15th meeting is tentatively expected to take place during the second quarter of 2021, according to the announcement of the CBD Secretariat. (ACB)

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Is nature conservation, a drain or a net contributor to global economy? Experts weigh in - Philippine Information Agency