Razan Al Mubarak shared a message to mark her second anniversary as President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In her speech, she highlighted the importance of inclusion to solve the current climate crisis.
“One of the cornerstones of our work for the last two years has been a focus on inclusion. And by inclusion, I don't mean an aspirational touting of petty talking points. I mean real inclusion specifically of women, Indigenous people and youth at the decision-making nexus on the critical issues of both biodiversity loss and climate change.”
Ms. Al Mubarak, who was named the UN Climate Change High Level Champion for COP28, also spoke on the importance of nature-based solutions to tackle the current climate crisis:
“To that end, another key principle that I have focused on as we lead up to COP 28 is that very intersection and inevitably the importance of nature based solutions. We at IUCN have spent many years championing the importance of nature based solutions, and I am happy to report that we are making great progress in promoting this very concept on the global stage for the first time at COP28, countries will follow the Paris Agreements mandate to take stock of our collective progress towards achieving the agreement's key goals.
Unfortunately, it is now clear that we are not meeting critical targets. Getting back on track and addressing these gaps will require changes not just in energy and transportation, but also in how we farm, how we build, how we manufacture, and how we invest in conserving and restoring nature. Most nature based solutions are faster and more cost effective than any engineered solutions out there, many of which are still decades away from removing carbon on a scale that's even close to what nature can do.”