The United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) solicited messages from the world community for the International Day for Biological Diversity 2020, which was marked on May 22. The messages addressed the theme “Our solutions are in nature.”
Dahdaleh Institute Member of Faculty Idil Boran, a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) at York University, with her Synergies of Planetary Health Research Initiative team, submitted a statement to the UN’s call. Titled, “Nature-based solutions: Catalyzing action for biodiversity, climate, and health,” the statement outlined principles for an effective agenda for nature and people.
Boran, author of Political Theory and Global Climate Action: Recasting the Public Sphere (Routledge 2019), recently joined the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health to develop and launch the “Synergies of Planetary Health Research Initiative.” Partners in the initiative include the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), and the Institute of International Relations, University of São Paulo.
“It is very exciting to start this project on such a strong note,” said Boran.
She noted that her team developed the Synergies of Planetary Health Research Initiative to create stronger links between actors addressing biodiversity loss and climate change. Nature-based solutions by non-governmental and local actors, such as businesses, investors, cities, regions and civil society organizations, could contribute to the effective and integrated governance of multiple global issues such as biodiversity, climate change and health.
“The UN Convention on Biological Diversity is a key actor in this space,”said Boran. “It is essential to engage with them with interdisciplinary research methodologies and concrete policy recommendations for governance synergies.”
This is not Boran’s first time working with the United Nations. She actively participates in the UN Climate Change conferences, known as Conference of the Parties (COPs), organizing and speaking at official events since 2012, and engaging researchers and practitioners.
In February, with the Synergies team, Boran made recommendations to the CBD which outlined strategies to address the drivers of biodiversity loss and shape a post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
Statements were also submitted by the secretary-general of the United Nations; the president of Costa Rica; the president of the United Nations General Assembly; the minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bangladesh; the mayor of Bonn, Germany; the mayor of Montreal, Canada; the director general, WWF International; the chief of the assembly of First Nations National; the secretary general, Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact; and others.
Read the full statement here: https://dighr.yorku.ca/projects/synergies/.