COVID-19 Report - 36

Systemic action: Governments, businesses and
financial institutions need to commit to ambitious
targets to halt and reverse the loss of nature.
COVID-19 has demonstrated the value of nature to human
health, economies and societies. Following the pandemic, it
will be essential for governments, businesses and the financial
sector to better integrate the Sustainable Development Goals
into their planning and activities. Governments and other
stakeholders should support ambitious and measurable
environmental targets, mobilizing adequate and consistent
resources for global action to halt and reverse the loss of
nature by 2030 and achieve the 1.5°C target of the UNFCCC's
Paris Agreement. The UN Summit on Biodiversity in
September 2020 and key global environmental decisions
in 2021, including the post-2020 Global Biodiversity
Framework under the CBD and enhanced NDCs before the
UNFCCC COP26, are unmissable opportunities.
These actions include:
●● Sending a strong political signal to heads of state and
government at the UN Summit on Biodiversity in
September 2020, ahead of major global environmental
decisions in 2021 for the health of people and planet.
●● Committing to a New Deal for Nature and People that
promotes a nature-positive world by 2030 and includes
three goals:

158

*	 Protect and restore natural habitats: Secure the
world's remaining natural spaces, by protecting 30 per
cent of land and ocean, and sustainably managing the
rest, with emphasis on community- and indigenousled conservation and sustainable management
*	 Safeguard the diversity of life: Halt the
unprecedented rate of extinction and the sharp decline
of wildlife populations by protecting and restoring
habitats and curbing unsustainable fishing, hunting
and wildlife trade.
*	 Halve the footprint of production and
consumption: Reduce humanity's negative
ecological impacts by greening the main economic
drivers of nature loss: agriculture, fishing,
infrastructure, extractive industries, forestry and
energy production.

WWF INTERNATIONAL 2020

●● Ensuring strong accountability and transparency
mechanisms for the implementation and achievements
of global goals through the post-2020 Global Biodiversity
Framework under the CBD.
●● Aligning public and private financial flows with the
implementation of an ambitious post-2020 Global
Biodiversity Framework and enhancing governments'
NDCs with nature-based solutions by:
*	 Eliminating or repurposing all incentives and
subsidies harmful to biodiversity, and urgently
aligning public and private financial flows with the
pathway towards a nature-positive, carbon-neutral
and equitable society.159
*	 Increasing public and private investments in nature,
and accounting for and improving transparency
around impacts on nature and associated risks in all
financial flows,160 including in emergency economic
recovery and stimulus packages.
*	 Focusing on a transformational shift that would allow
for nature-positive, carbon-neutral and wellbeingcentred economic models, including the need for
alternative macro-economic indicators.
●● Mobilizing the corporate sector to make commitments
and ramp up credible action to reduce the negative
environmental footprint of key sectors and to translate
corporate targets into positive environmental impact. 
●● Working with financial institutions to incorporate both
climate and nature risks, such as the multiple impacts
of deforestation and fragmentation, in their investment
decisions. Initial actions include implementing better data
and traceability systems to track the impacts of their funds
on supply chains and developing new channels for green
finance.
COVID-19 Report

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