The World Wildlife Fund South Africa (WWF-SA) hosted its annual Our Planet Our Business conference in Morningside on 4 December to discuss what civil society, corporate companies and government can do to address a number of environmental challenges currently facing the earth.
Since its founding in 1968, funds have been dedicated to protecting South Africa’s natural heritage which includes plants, animal species and people.
According to WWF-SA CEO Morné du Plessis, there are currently a number of challenges facing our environment and the significance of combating these issues demonstrates just how important this has become for not only society but for businesses as a whole.
“The scale of the challenges that we face is becoming increasingly clear. There were scientists in the 80s and 70s who were largely ignored but the body of the evidence has become increasingly bigger and bigger and more convincing. It the time now where businesses have come to realise that our very business model of doing business and societies – our very way of living our lives – is threatening not only our children but also our souls,” he said.
Du Plessis added that according to an annual report by the United Nations, the planet’s living standard is decreasing at a rapid and worrisome pace. “Only 25 per cent of the planet is what you could call ‘relatively untouched’. Next year is a crucial year, it is the year in which we bring three more challenges together – climate change, the sustainable development goals that focus on human well-being and sustainable human well-being.
“In 2020, the heads of state are going to have to come together to implement some sort of agreement outlining how we are going to make sure that we care for everything from the foundation all the way up to the roof.”
Next year is described as a ‘super year’ by the wildlife fun for two significant reasons:
- In order to reverse the trend of nature loss by 2030, the world requires urgent action next year.
- Next year will see a number of important global moments for the environment. These include the 75th birthday of the United Nations (UN) which is celebrated during the opening of the UN General Assembly and Biodiversity Leaders Summit in September, the UN deciding on a new 10-year framework for biodiversity under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity at its 15th Conference of Parties in October in Beijing and the 26th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2020.
“I hope that we will learn together; civil society, businesses and people from government. We all have to move together in order to ensure that there is a new deal for people and nature in Beijing next year,” he concluded.
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