Saving Earth: Conservationist Harvey Locke says we can only solve climate change if we address nature
Planet Earth is in dire need of solutions. Astronomer Carl Sagan once said that we have a responsibility "to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." Our campaign Saving Earth focuses on nature and wildlife conservation and this column will feature stories on the pressing needs of our planet and hopefulness of our fight.
July 27th marked International Conservation Day and amid the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, it becomes more important to acknowledge the role humanity plays in the disturbance of nature. Conservationist Harvey Locke believes that the pandemic is rooted in humans repeatedly stressing nature. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) caught up with the Canadian conservationist to speak about nature conservation trends today and what more needs to be done to ensure a safe future for the environment of the planet.
Locke is a well-known leader when it comes to wildlife conservation. In 2017, he was appointed to chair the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Beyond Aichi Targets Task Force. The task force's goal was to ensure that global conservation targets that were to be set at the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity this year would be meaningful and achieve conservation of nature and halt biodiversity loss. In 2014, Locle was given the Fred M Packard Award for outstanding service to protected areas by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas at the World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia.
But Locke's work is far from over and believes that we need to do much more to protect wildlife. The first thing he says we need to ensure is "habitat, habitat, habitat." Once the habitat is secured, we need to ensure that "wildlife is not killed at an unsustainable rate." For this, one of Locke's movements plays a vital role. Called Nature Needs Half, the movement aims to "protect at least half of the world in an interconnected way." Locke mentions that there is a lot of work we have to do to ensure that "at least half the world" is protected for nature, and speaks about the three global conditions that require different strategies.
In an interview with Sanctuary Asia magazine, Locke had noted that about 18 percent of the earth's land is used for cities and farms, 56 percent is what is referred to as "shared lands", and about 26 percent is in large wild areas. Nature Needs Half movement is rooted in scientific studies. Locke told MEAWW that we need to "plan our cities better, stop urban expansion into farmland, and practice regenerative agriculture" He adds, "We need to consciously plan for about 50 percent of [shared lands] to be interconnected with wildlife corridors." He also adds that "what isn't endangered needs to be left alone and intact."
Locke is also the founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) initiative which aims to connect and protect the 2,000 miles Yellowstone-to-Yukon region. Its mission proposes to maintain and restore habitat integrity and connectivity along the spine of North America's Rocky Mountains stretching from the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem to Canada’s Yukon Territory. The project now includes 11 national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, provincial parks, wilderness lands, and increasingly, private lands.
There has been an increase in protected areas from 11 to 21 percent within the Yellowstone to Yukon region, while better management practices have improved conservation across an additional 30 percent of lands. There are dozens of overpasses and underpasses that allow animals to cross over and under major highways, connecting one wilderness area to another. Locke believes that similar projects can be achieved in other parts of the world, especially India, where he notes that the Himalayas in the north and the Western Ghats in the southwest could be protected to create an interconnected system for the movement of animals throughout the mountains.
While the climate change conversation is heating up, Locke believes that the conversation surrounding wildlife conservation has come and "gone in waves." He tells us that there was a large spike in concern at the beginning of the twentieth century when the first laws were passed. He also mentions the ancient Indian emperor, Ashoka who had wildlife laws in place "several thousand years ago", reminding us that everything does not begin with the west. He also believes there is a similar spike in interest going on right now.
Part of that spike could be attributed to the pandemic — the Covid-19 virus is believed to have originated in wet wildlife markets in China. He tells us that the pandemic is making people aware that "the dangerous virus is coming from stressing nature." He tells us that the pandemic would have made people more conscious about "how we are handling animals."
Locke warns that humans need to practice self-restraint to "leave the parts of the world that are wild and stop cutting into them," He says we then have to practice restoration in areas that we have damaged and be less demanding on the world for natural resources. He suggests a more sustainable lifestyle b—uy what you need. He also recommends being watchful of what we eat because humans are "incredibly wasteful of the food we produce." For this, Locke says we need to produce foods that are sustainable from the local perspective which will need less energy to transport it, saying, "we need to be more thoughtful about our relationship with nature," and for this, Locke says that Covid-19 "has taught us who's the boss."
We do, however, need to talk about conservation more. While young activists like Greta Thunberg have taken to protest for more laws to fight anthropogenic climate change (climate change that is caused by humans), Locle says that the fight, along with nature conservation are the "yin and yang of the future." While he acknowledges that Thunberg has spoken about conservative, he laments that the media simplified that conversation to just climate change.
Locke tells us, "If we don't address nature, we cannot solve climate change. We will fail to address climate [change] if we fail to address nature and if we fail to address climate [change], we will fail to save nature." Locke stresses the need for a nature-positive, carbon-neutral future, adding that we need to stop the destruction of the ecosystem and build resilience in nature.