Can the Earth Be Saved?

A future in which catastrophic climate change is kept at bay while we still power our developing world. A future in which we can feed 10 billion people worldwide and provide cleaner, more abundant drinking water while also protecting life-giving lands, lakes and rivers. A future in which nature’s wild heart still beats strong through healthy wildlife and magnificent landscapes while our cities are strengthened by harmony with nature.

Urgent action is essential, and we must seize the unprecedented opportunities to change the course of history. The international community is preparing to make path-defining choices for the future, with once-in-a-lifetime agreements that have the power to stop catastrophic climate change and preserve biodiversity on Earth.

This must be the decade we save the planet. We must follow through on the promises, policies, and collaborative effort needed to protect nature from collapse.

Here are three ways we need to up-end ‘business as usual’ and act boldly to advance conservation.

Problem:
Today’s version of large-scale agriculture is the biggest source of land conversion, drives deforestation that worsens climate change, uses 70% of the world’s freshwater supply and relies on fertilizer practices that pollute our waters. As the need to feed a billion more people increases, agricultural expansion could devastate habitats, release even more carbon into the atmosphere, and dry up rivers.

How to fix it:
Produce food where it’s most likely to thrive, which will use less water and less land.

How we’re taking action right now:
We’re analyzing satellite images and local yield potential to pinpoint where soy farming and cattle ranching can expand without destroying nature. This approach is especially vital in Brazil’s Cerrado region, where half of all natural habitat has already been converted to cropland and pasture. Cooperating with farmers on sustainable practices can help save what’s left of the Cerrado’s rich savanna.

Problem:
Overfishing and poor fisheries management is not only devastating to the fish species being pushed to the brink of collapse. It endangers food webs and ocean ecosystems by disrupting the balance of all sea life. And it threatens billions of people who rely on seafood as an important source of livelihood and animal protein. Without serious changes, 84% of the world’s fish stocks will be in peril in our lifetime.

How to fix it:
Refine our fishing methods to only take what the fish populations can tolerate now, so our oceans can be more abundant and healthier in the future.

How we’re taking action right now:
We’re making it fast, easy and affordable for fishers to use data to manage their catches more sustainably. Like image recognition software, FishFace technology we’re pioneering in Indonesia uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify fish species and track their numbers so fishers can avoid catching too many or the wrong kind.

Problem:
Climate change is the single most serious threat facing our planet today. We must reduce carbon emissions to, or below, levels agreed to in the Paris Climate Agreement to prevent catastrophic harm. And with global energy demand expected to increase 56% over the next couple decades, it will be impossible to meet those emissions targets if we stick primarily with traditional fossil fuels.

How to fix it:
Shift 85% of the world’s energy supply to non-fossil fuel sources and invest in strategies like reforestation that capture carbon dioxide.

How we’re taking action right now:
We’re championing regulations that allow former mining lands to be repurposed for solar and wind energy. Tens of thousands of acres of degraded mine sites in Nevada’s Great Basin are now available for renewable energy development. By targeting already-disturbed land, new turbines and solar panels won’t need to destroy more natural habitat.