{"id":36646,"date":"2015-11-24T14:29:52","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T18:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=36646"},"modified":"2015-11-24T14:32:49","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T18:32:49","slug":"brock-biologist-co-writes-beijing-declaration-on-ecosystem-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2015\/11\/brock-biologist-co-writes-beijing-declaration-on-ecosystem-governance\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock biologist co-writes Beijing Declaration on ecosystem governance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine drafting a set of guidelines that would advise all governments and private sectors in the world on how to govern ecosystems.\u00a0Picture doing this in a small group of people speaking various languages under a tight deadline with a huge goal at stake: to reduce, and prevent, the increasingly negative impacts of climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what Brock University biologist Liette Vasseur recently experienced. She was one of seven experts from around the globe who co-wrote the Beijing Declaration on Governing Ecosystems for Human Wellbeing.<\/p>\n

She and her colleagues based the declaration on material coming from discussions among 150 experts who met in Beijing, China last month at the first-ever World Forum on Ecosystem Governance.<\/p>\n

The Beijing Declaration will be presented at the upcoming\u00a0United Nations Conference on Climate Change, or \u201cCOP 21,\u201d<\/a> scheduled to be held in Paris, France Nov. 30 \u2013 Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is a global problem,\u201d says Vasseur, who also holds a UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability. \u201cIt has to be treated seriously. We cannot go on and put our head in the sand like we have been doing until now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beijing Declaration\u2019s essential premise is that natural ecosystems play a \u201ccrucial role\u201d in meeting basic human needs and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

But environmental mismanagement has led to a situation where 60 per cent of the world\u2019s ecosystem services are degraded or being used wastefully. \u201cEcosystem services\u201d are the benefits \u2013 clean water, food, recreation, energy, medicines, etc. \u2013 that people get from the environment.<\/p>\n

Vasseur focused on how good ecosystem governance supports the United Nations\u2019 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which cover everything from eradicating poverty to increasing access to health care, food, education, employment, energy and many other basics across the globe by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a healthy ecosystem, we\u2019ll never achieve the SDGs and we\u2019ll never achieve climate change adaptation and mitigation,\u201d says Vasseur.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to understand and acknowledge that there are connections between humans and the ecosystem. We have to protect the ecosystem and look at nature-based solutions instead of only looking at economic development and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of these \u201cnature-based solutions\u201d include restoration, replanting trees, protecting wetlands and prohibiting construction in ecologically sensitive areas.<\/p>\n

Another key point made in the Beijing Declaration is that \u201cwe need quality education on environmental climate change and ecosystem governance issues from kindergarten to the post-secondary level,\u201d says Vasseur.<\/p>\n

And, community involvement is key to successful environmental management, says Vaseur. \u201cWe may have all the best national policies in the world, but by the end, who will be really doing actions? It\u2019s the local population.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beijing Declaration on Governing Ecosystems for Human Wellbeing outlines principals, goals and recommended actions on managing the environment, achieving the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change impacts.<\/p>\n

Some of these include:<\/p>\n