Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition Letter

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

“Our common home, the Earth, is suffering «because of the irresponsible use and abuse of its goods» that we humans have inflicted on it, through practices that have and are depleting the Earth’s goods. While suffering from the impact of the pandemic, which has taken away millions of human lives, climate- vulnerable nations are also experiencing increasing intense calamities due to the instability of our biosphere.Nature and biodiversity are declining faster than at any other time in history and successive major scientific reports have highlighted the huge scale of nature loss. Climate and biodiversity are inextricably connected with the future of all life on Earth. Their benefits are, however, compromised by human activity which results in the rapid deterioration of ecosystems and a decline in the number of species and their genetic diversity.The science is clear: an extractive, unsustainable economy is causing the climate crisis that’s destroying God’s gift of creation and harming the most vulnerable among us the most, those who have done little to cause the crisis, the Poor and the Earth.”
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Laudato Si' Movement

To: Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
From: [Your Name]

Open letter to Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity

Biodiversity COP15 should deliver ambitious and bold outcomes in the Post 2020 biodiversity framework.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF YOURSELF/ORGANIZATION]

My name is [....] I am from [ORGANIZATION, COMMUNITY, VILLAGE] and I am writing to you as [A CONCERNED CITIZEN, REPRESENTATIVE OF…, ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION]
(If you are writing as an organization use the same format as above.)

In solidarity, we are respectfully submitting to you and calling your attention to the scale of biodiversity collapse that requires immediate action to stop further damage to our common home. Nature and biodiversity are declining faster than at any other time in history and successive major reports have highlighted the huge scale of nature loss.

The lack of societal awareness and political will to act on biodiversity is in stark contrast to the severity and urgency of the crisis. Human activities over millennia have resulted in an estimated 83% reduction in wild mammal biomass (both terrestrial and marine), and 50% reduction in the biomass of plants relative to pre-human times.

Biodiversity is integrated with and supports human societies on ecological, economic, cultural and spiritual levels. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization put out a report showing that deforestation rates were significantly lower in areas where collective Indigenous and Tribal land rights had been formally recognized.

To halt and reverse these catastrophic trends, it is essential that the root drivers are addressed - especially as doing so also brings opportunities and benefits, including enhancing human health and wellbeing and creating green jobs.

The massive loss of biodiversity, the climate crisis, and the global pandemic that we are in calls on humanity again to understand our place within and among God’s creation, interconnected and interdependent with the web of life in its entirety.

We are calling for:
Promise no more biodiversity collapse or for at least 50% of the earth's lands and marine areas be protected for nature by 2030.
Protection and respect of human rights, including the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in climate and biodiversity action.
Equitable global action that ensures accountability, transparency and sustainable financing to the most vulnerable

There is no doubt that working more closely with nature and addressing biodiversity collapse through amending human activity to reduce impact on, or support the recovery of, the natural world is imperative.
A recent United Nations report highlights the urgency in addressing both biodiversity and climate change impacts. “At 1.2 C, because of unchecked global warming, we are in the era of loss and damage, experiencing climate disasters and in some instances we are sadly now reaching the limits to adaptation. Even a marginal and or temporary overshoot of the 1.5C threshold will have dire consequences for millions of people. This vulnerability is the lived reality for billions of people, particularly those least resourced to cope in the global South.” Our inactions today continue to exacerbate the climate crises and have lasting effects for centuries to come.
In solidarity with the most vulnerable and championing for the cry of the Earth, we Catholics and other faith communities implore you to take urgent action without hedging the future of our common home on ambiguous sentiments. Together with faith-based institutions across the world, we have worked to champion the Healthy Planet, Healthy People petition so that our leaders participating in COP15 in Kunming, China, take bold actions for all creation.
We invite you to humbly reflect on the realization that it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. We are living through climate change and biodiversity impacts. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur soon.

We need to act boldly. We need to work together. We need to act NOW and make no more biodiversity loss achievable.

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