Plan and Manage all Areas to Reduce Biodiversity Loss
Ensure that all areas are under participatory, integrated and biodiversity inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes addressing land- and sea‑use change, to bring the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, close to zero by 2030, while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
Why is this target important?
We have long pretended that we are the masters of the planet. We are not. In reality we are one of Earth’s myriad life forms and we are all dependent on each other. We are part of this planet, both emotionally and practically. It’s our home, where we belong. Everything we rely on—all our food and material resources—comes from nature. A thriving, living planet is a necessity for our lives.
Many of us grew up in cities with little personal connection to nature. This distance made it easier to objectify nature. Biodiversity was reduced to a resource for exploitation. But plants and animals are not objects; they are living, breathing parts of the planet’s life-giving ecosystems. And they need space to thrive.
The first three targets of the Biodiversity Plan focus on habitats, because without space to live, biodiversity will perish. That includes us, because we, all of us, are just one part of the planet’s amazing, life-giving web of life.