Bringing together NBSAPs and NDCs and using NbS examples on social and economic benefits in landscapes and communities affected by armed conflict and/or unsustainable and illegal extractive practices.

 

Event Description and Thematic Justification:

 

As agreed in UNEA Resolution 5/5 on Nature-based solutions (NbS) for sustainable development nature-based solutions are actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits.

 

In this sense, NbS are understood as measures that take advantage of natural potential to address social, environmental and economic challenges faced by different countries and that contribute to the protection and conservation of biodiversity. NbS involve protecting, restoring and sustainably managing ecosystems, which indicates that there is a need to join forces to develop innovative actions and policies that allow safeguarding biodiversity. NbS are included in the Global Biodiversity Framework under Target 8 aiming to minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity and increase its resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions, including through nature-based solution and/or ecosystem-based approaches, while minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity.

 

The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are commitments that countries make to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions as part of climate change mitigation. These commitments include the necessary policies and measures for achieving the global targets set out in the Paris Agreement. Nature-based solutions (NbS) have been gradually valued by various countries because they have great potential for contributing to the Paris Agreement goals and carbon neutrality. In this regard, integrating nature-based solutions into NDCs is a critical element to mitigate climate change-related impacts.

 

Latin America and the Caribbean play an important role in addressing the challenges posed by climate change at a global level. Furthermore, the transition to carbon neutrality could bring us great benefits, both socially and economically. We currently generate 30% of energy from renewable sources, doubling the world average. We host up to two-thirds of the world's lithium and 38% of its copper, products that are key to advancing towards the green transition. Likewise, we produce enough food to support 1.3 billion people, and we contribute approximately 40% of global net food exports. Therefore, it is necessary to have practical implementations of NbS that can contribute to having an impact on the climate and biodiversity agenda that respond to the needs of the region in relation to human well-being, increase the resilience of ecosystems and guarantee ecosystem services in areas of strategic importance, incorporating gender, differential and intergenerational approaches, policy dialogue and legal framework.

 

To address all the issues mentioned above, the panel will generate a space of dialogue and interaction to discuss how the biodiversity interventions contribute to achieve the objectives of the climate agenda through the implementation of Nature based Solutions (NbS).

 

How NbS actions can restore landscapes and livelihoods after conflict with nature

 

The official logo for the COP16 was inspired by Inírida “the eternal flower” as a symbol of resilience and peace. This emblem denotes a message of “Peace with Nature” that Colombia wishes to send to the world. At the same time, it represents a call to reflect the relationship we have with each other and nature, as well as rethink the current economic model which prioritizes extraction, overexploitation and pollution of nature.

 

Colombia’s peace model seeks to (re)construct social, environmental and economic conditions for peace in a post-conflict setting[2]. It is based on the premise of the government to construct a sustainable peace through the community management of natural resources (and biodiversity) and restoration of ecosystems impacted by conflict. The side event seeks to discuss the progress, outcomes and challenges faced by the efforts from the perspective of different stakeholders involved (government, local communities, indigenous people, …). This event will link human-human conflict and the scars it leaves on nature, with human-nature conflict – the destructive way that current systems of production and consumption cause humans to interact with nature: the two branches of the “Peace with Nature” theme.

 

Co-hosted by Colombia and UNEP, the event will facilitate a conversation in a roundtable format between participants from Colombia/across Latin America.

 

The side event will seek concrete examples and experiences of how NbS actions can help rebuild ecosystems and communities after conflict, this conversation will also seek to draw a common thread between the two types of conflict experienced and show that peace with nature must transcend both axes of conflict. There is no peace between humans until there is peace with nature.

 

The side event will foster dialogue about Nature-based Solution as a potential pathway for achieving people’s needs without compromising nature nor future generations.  Also about the importance of making Indigenous communities and local communities the main actors of the efforts to restore ecosystems (and their services)

 

The side event will seeking concrete examples and experiences of how NbS actions can help rebuild ecosystems and communities after conflict, this conversation will also seek to draw a common thread between the two types of conflict experienced and show that peace with nature must transcend both axes of conflict. There is no peace between humans until there is peace with nature.

 

Finally, the side event is expected to discuss how a coherent governance/policy can ensure to tackle multiple challenges with the same efforts. Efficiency in the use of (financial) resources to fulfil the multiple commitment/agendas/agreements and promote improve the wellbeing of the local populations.