MEDIA STATEMENT
G7 Leaders Agree to Historic ‘Nature Compact’ Set comprehensive biodiversity targets, commit to protecting at least 30% of lands and seas
CORNWALL, UK (13 June 2021)—Today G7 Heads of State announced a joint commitment to a historic “Nature Compact” during their meeting in Cornwall, UK. The Nature Compact is the most wide-ranging and ambitious set of coordinated actions to address the crisis facing nature ever agreed to by G7 countries.
Three of the Campaign for Nature’s key priorities feature prominently in the G7 Nature Compact, including:
An agreement to support new global targets to protect and conserve at least 30% of global land and at least 30% of global ocean by 2030. The agreement states that the nations will lead by example by effectively protecting and conserving the same percentage of their national land, inland waters and coastal and marine areas by 2030.
A commitment to prioritize the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in co-design, decision-making and implementation of the systems change needed for the Nature Compact’s success.
A pledge to dramatically increase investment in nature from all sources including the percentage of public climate finance directed towards nature.
Additionally, through the Nature Compact, G7 countries are committed to tackling the biodiversity and climate crises in an integrated manner, addressing deforestation through reforms in supply chains, redirecting subsidies that are harmful to nature, curtailing overfishing and ocean pollution, restoring degraded ecosystems, and holding themselves accountable for their actions.
In response to the today’s momentous commitment by the G7 nations, the Campaign for Nature issued the following statements:
Brian O’Donnell, Director of the Campaign for Nature
“The Nature Compact is a defining moment for nature conservation. Never before have we witnessed such integrated and comprehensive policy ambitions to safeguard nature by G7 leaders. Finally, the G7 is treating the Nature crisis on par with the climate crisis.
Now, G7 countries need to meet their ambitious commitments with finance and implement the Nature Compact with the urgency it requires.
“The commitment by G7 countries to support protecting and conserving at least 30% of the world’s lands and the world’s seas with Indigenous peoples and local communities as full partners is fantastic news to all who seek a better future for our planet and an integrated approach to confronting the crises facing nature and climate.”
Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence
“This Nature Compact is proof of the realization by world leaders that protecting and restoring nature is half of the solution to our global planetary crisis. A healthy natural world is not a luxury but the basis of our civilization. The science and the economics of protecting 30% of the planet by 2030 - involving Indigenous Peoples and local communities - are clear, as is the moral imperative. ”
###
The Campaign for Nature works with scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and a growing coalition of over 100 conservation organizations around the world who are calling on policymakers to commit to clear and ambitious targets to be agreed upon at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in 2021 to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030 and working with Indigenous leaders to ensure full respect for Indigenous rights.
CONTACT
For Campaign for Nature interview requests and quotes, please contact: