We are the most inquisitive and inventive of all animals. Fifty years ago, our curiosity about the worlds beyond our planet led to one of the most stupendous achievements in human history. We travelled to the moon. Paradoxically, the pictures of Earth taken on that Apollo mission made us see our own world anew. Until then, it had seemed vast and its resources infinite. Those pictures helped us realise more vividly than ever before that the Earth is unique and wonderful but also that its space and resources are limited.
Now, 50 years on, we have no doubt that profound changes are happening on our planet. We are entering a new geological era, not as in the past when changes happened over millions of years, not even over thousands of years or centuries, but within decades-within our lifetime.
These changes are as rapid and as great as when the planet was struck by an asteroid. But this time they result from the global impact of our own species. In just four decades, the number of wild animals has halved, and biodiversity is declining in every region of the world, all as a consequence of the way we have chosen to live. It is a global catastrophe.
But as the problems are of our making, so the solutions can be ours too. There are stories in every region of the world that reveal nature's resilience and show how restoration is possible. In this digital age, we can communicate that message to all parts of the globe, at the same time showing the glories, the splendours, the marvels of the natural world that still exist on our planet.
If large enough areas are connected and protected, wildlife thrives and we benefit. Where we protect marine hotspots, we benefit from the increase in fish and other marine resources. Where we restore the natural water cycle, we benefit from the resulting fecundity of life in the rivers, wetlands and floodplains. Forests are dynamic and resilient and can rise from the ashes, if we let them, and will continue to provide resources and global functions from which, again, we benefit.
That the natural world is resilient gives us great hope. Technology also offers hope, that revolutionary ways will be found to store and transmit energy from renewable sources, doing away with any need to burn fossil fuels. Neither is it too late to choose the future we want if we act now and act together. There is a shift worldwide. More people than ever are aware of the problems and the solutions. So we must back the leaders who are prepared to do something and pressure those who are not.
The action also must be global. The chance for that to happen is when the world's nations meet to review the steps being taken to halt both climate change and the loss of biodiversity. From those meetings we must hope that there will come a change in our politics and economics. The future of all life on this planet depends on our willingness to take action now.
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