Australia has now committed itself to reverse the biodiversity loss the nation had suffered in the last decades or so. The pledge was signed by at least 90 countries, all of whom had taken an oath to heal the nature destroyed by human activities by the year 2030.
While the UN General Assembly was taking place in New York, on the sidelines the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature event was also taking place, where Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese had announced that his government will be actively participating in the mission.
In 2020, the former Morrison government had not signed the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature but PM Anthony says that Australia’s priority is now back to tackling the environmental issues. He summarized his goals in a video message, in which he stated the prioritization of environmental issues along with stating that the dual crisis of climate change and the global loss of biodiversity is significant to the Australian government’s current concerns.
He said that the government’s attitude at this point signals the rejuvenated approach in which Australia will protect the environment and leadership of climate issues will be renewed. He also added that this also highlights Australia’s solidarity with other nations who are committed to tackling environmental issues by taking strong actions for both biodiversity loss and climate change.
The actual reason for which the Morrison government refused to sign the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature in 2020 was that at that time, Australia was inconsistent with its policies regarding the commitments that were to be made regarding climate change and even included the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The development of the Pledge had been made possible with the alliance of small Island states(AOSIS) including an organization alliance along with nations such as Belize, Bhutan, Colombia, Costa Rica, the EU, Finland, Kenya, Seychelles, and the UK.
All the countries who had signed the Pledge have promised to fulfill the actions to put in a stronger global effort to reduce activities such as deforestation, eliminate subsidies that are harmful to the environment, and prohibit or halt unsustainable fishing practices. They also promised to start a quick transition to food production systems that are sustainable and for the entire duration of the next decade to develop a circular economy.
The Pledge document also included promises to stop human practices which end up in species extinction such as poaching or hunting and the reduction of biodiversity loss.
Similar to the Paris agreement on climate change, in December, countries will gather together in Montreal to discuss a new global agreement on the climate crisis.
Australian PM understands the urgency
In the New York event, Australian PM Anthony also stated that Australia understood the urgency to tackle environmental challenges and that Australia will strive towards becoming a global leader in the fight to actively bring change and to provide solutions for the same.
He made a note that Australia is one of the world’s biggest mega diverse countries as the nation comprises 10 percent of Earth’s surface but also contains 70 percent of the total world species.
He believes that by working together with the other global nations, they can better provide both protection and conservation for the world’s seas, land, waterways, and cultural heritage for future generations. He says now is the time to act.
The chief executive of the Australian WWF says that the new Australian government has openly stated to other nations that the environment is back to being Australia’s one number priority. He says that WWF looks forward to working with the government to see that the promises in the Pledge are made true which will help to regenerate the country as well as provide support to other neighboring nations in the Asia-Pacific.
The Pledge will change the attitude of the Australian citizens who have been affected by problems like the wildfires every year. Actions taken for reforestation and sustainable development are going to create a big impact towards improvement in bad environmental conditions and healing of nature corrupted by humans for decades.
