We’ve Changed to Stop COVID-19, Now Let’s Change to Preserve Wildlife

Note: This was originally published July 10, 2020

“I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity” said John D. Rockefeller. It’s an age-old adage.

The spread of COVID-19 is a disaster, but it’s important to proactively find the silver lining. No one wants it here, the suffering and deaths. But since it is here it’s important we take the opportunity to learn and better ourselves.

In doing so we find it has led to us changing behaviors for the better including reducing flying and consumerism, which have direct immediate benefits for the environment — both reducing global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and reducing pollution that drives human health problems, as has been seen in China via satellites. It may help to help end the “Post Truth” era; the disturbing trend in the loss of trust in science and academic experts. Coronavirus has a brutal way of telling the real, factual story: incompetence in government leads to more deaths, plain before everyone’s eyes, exposing this fallacy and hopefully seeding reversal.

But the most important opportunity I see is this: we — humans and society — have exercised our emergency response muscle and with this skill, we can take aim at other crises facing us. We changed behaviour significantly in the space of a few short weeks. People are flying less — in some regions 10x less — washing their hands more, working from home for months, doing video calls instead of in-person meetings organising virtual conferences (in many cases more successful!) and doing elbow bumps in lieu of handshakes! These are dramatic behaviour changes in such a short period, something previously thought impossible by most. We’ve completely changed our lives in a few weeks. This is important because changing behaviour is something we need to do elsewhere and very urgently: the natural environment.

The global emergency of our age is unfolding before our eyes: the massive destruction of wildlife on the planet.

Consider this: had we wiped out, in broad terms, half of life on Earth on the timescale of four months (COVID-19-timescale), instead of 40 years, how it happened — had 82 percent of wild animals disappeared from our parks, 75 percent of insects from our skies, 70 percent of fish from our rivers and lakes, and over half of live corals (see the UN’s IPBES report, May 2019, for the sad details) — would we be reacting to this ecosystem disaster with a stronger sense of urgency? It’s very likely. But it didn’t happen that way. And over the last two generations we, like frogs boiling in water, didn’t notice the slow changes, and got used to it bit by bit until roughly half of life on our planet was dead.

I have hope that things will change going forward, because, COVID-19 has shown we can change human behaviour very fast when we prioritise it and arguably, the behavioural change required to stop the environmental crisis is less than what humans have just done because of the pandemic. Though we need to fly and consume less, not nearly as much as we just reduced it! Though we need to change our diets, it’s hardly as dramatic a prospect for most as being told we cannot travel out of our house or see our loved ones. Though we need to create less waste and recycle more, those aren’t as dramatic as wearing masks while outside and social distancing. Finally, although stopping environmental damage is daunting, the good news is that there is a large overlap between the solutions to land use change and climate change, which are the largest drivers of biodiversity loss.

I analyzed and pared down the environment-related UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and below identify what I consider the top three projects for world leaders and three top projects for individuals, which if started today and completed by 2030, I crudely estimate could stop approximately 80 percent of wildlife loss and simultaneously help to stop climate change. It’s imperfect: the projects may not be optimum, and these efforts are just a first attempt — but I think they are directionally correct. We have to focus on solutions that give hope. And we have to focus on a few to be effective, rather than trying to work on all with little success. There are key efforts that will stop most of the destruction. Let’s start with those: three actions government and business leaders ought take and three actions individuals ought take. Below is the list. It’s hard, but we’ve just shown we can do more when the emergency presents itself, and this certainly qualifies as an emergency.

For World Leaders: Commit today to complete the following by 2028:

1. Parks & Trees: Create parks for 30 percent of land & oceans; plant net 1 trillion new trees.

Why: Parks ensure space for natural habitats, free from urban development. Trees lock up carbon, keeping it out of Earth’s atmosphere where it contributes to climate change.

Who: If G20 nations + Congo, New Zealand dedicated 30 percent of land to parks, we’d reach 80 percent of the first goal. If private donors contributed $10–20 billion, we’d achieve the second.

2. Sustainable Farming: Switch to regenerative farming on farms & fisheries

Why: Regenerative farming & fishing improves efficiency & sequesters atmospheric carbon.

Who: If G20 nations + Nigeria, Peru, Chile & Norway, in partnership with their largest agriculture & fishing firms dedicate 80 percent of output to regenerative farming & fishing, we’d achieve this goal.

3. Renewable Energy: Switch power plants to renewables, electrify power used, including heat and automobiles

Why: Burning of fossil fuels releases carbon into the atmosphere, facilitating climate change that damages sensitive ecosystems & kills wildlife.

Who: If G20 nations, in partnership with their largest energy and automotive firms, made it so 80 percent of power plants and cars used electrical power, we’d achieve our goals.

For Individuals:

1. Diet: Reduce meat/fish intake to three meals per week Why: A major driver of deforestation is clearing land for cattle for food, or for crops for the cattle; overfishing drives marine ecosystem loss.

2. Support: Pro-environment politicians Why: Helps all goals

3. Volunteer at nature preserve Why: To protect habitat

Bonus: For wealthy: Fly less(<10x/year) Why: Reduce CO2 ; flying is the dominant carbon impact of wealthy

Bonus: For poor: Ensure girls educated through secondary school Why: Reduce population pressure which is a driver of the pressures facing the planet.

The year 2020 marks the wildlife half-way point: It’s time to focus on its protection. Humanity has undertaken and achieved audacious targets in short timeframes before when it sets its eyes on them: the Apollo project reached its goal — going to the moon — in seven years, and the Manhattan project in seven years. After half the European cities were destroyed in WWII, we had the Marshall Plan to rebuild them in just four years. Today, with half Earth’s wildlife destroyed, we need our leaders to devise a plan with a similar scope and ambition. During COVID-19 we shifted human behaviour massively in a few weeks. Today we need similar behavioral changes from our global citizens.

COVID-19 has one final gift: it has shown us how nature can rebound quickly when given the opportunity. If large companies, governments and individuals undertake these projects, we’ll save the majority of remaining wildlife. We’ll get to leave a planet with our grandchildren that is as thriving and vibrant with life as the one we inherited.

- Will Marshall, CEO, Planet

* PS Thanks to my friend Dr. Peter Diamandis who first advised me of this way to look on disasters a decade ago, and reflecting on it led me to co-found Planet, and other life decisions.