Making Peace with Nature

Eco-Park in Kuala Lumpur by Filipa Ferreira

Who doesn’t love a walk in a nice well-maintained park or forest? Or a walk in a clean beach? Or at the nearest park? Who doesn’t love the fresh air from clean environments? I’m sure the vast majority of human beings love that. So, why has Nature been so damaged by Humanity? Isn’t time to take bolder actions, preserve the environment and restore what has been damaged but still on time to be recovered? Why waiting for an irreversible loss to hypocritically talk about it?

In her opening speech at the 5^th UNEP meeting, its executive director Ms Inger Andersen called for a united action of the whole society, driven by UNEP, as its duty to also care for the Planet so harm is contained: “We have to acknowledge that we need an all of society effort to radically change our ways if we are to make peace with the planet and therefore create the environmental conditions so that all of humanity can thrive, now and for generations to come.”

The UNEP report, Peace with Nature, launched last week calls for the urgent need to act on the global and interlinked emergencies of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, so well-being for current and future generations is maintained, justice delivered and poverty eradicated.

“…our war on nature has left the planet broken”.

Mr Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, on the forward for the Peace with Nature report

Climate change consequences on increased extreme weather events leads to sea level rise, biodiversity loss as reduction of coastal wetlands (which can be reduced [20%; 90%] depending on sea level rise), land degradation, pollinators loss, agricultural underproduction, or zoonotic diseases amongst other consequences that affect Health, the food system and well-being in general. For example, the loss of pollinators is expected to cause an annual drop on food production valued between [$234; $577] billion. So, why do we keep killing bees?

If we do not get on top of the three planetary crises, and quickly, the planet will warm and nature wither. Many more will suffer.

Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive director
_{on the probability of further zoonotic diseases, as Covid-19}

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FMCG industry – is the therapy worth?

Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Industry market had a value of $10 trillion in 2017 and is expected to reach over $15 trillion in 2025, according to a research done by Allied Market. It’s a reflection of modern society, where uncontrolled consumption is seen a retail therapy and a way to happiness, although short-lived.

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So many citizens have embarked in this snow ball that natural resources have been depleted as business models, in its large majority, were linear instead of circular. Not long ago, some film directors raised the issue by producing some films in a call for our attention to the unsustainable minerals’ extraction, in certain parts of our Planet. Notwithstanding, demand for those minerals have not stopped, nor its traffic.

In that same report, food & beverage represented approximately 89% of the FMCG market. Geographically, the USA, Canada, China and India are the top 4 markets for this industry.