{"id":51347,"date":"2024-03-23T07:41:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T07:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/?p=51347"},"modified":"2024-03-23T07:41:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T07:41:33","slug":"australia-should-take-global-leadership-in-nature-restoration-by-boldly-interpreting-international-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/australia-should-take-global-leadership-in-nature-restoration-by-boldly-interpreting-international-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia Should Take Global Leadership in Nature Restoration by Boldly Interpreting International Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sydney, Mar 23 (The Conversation) : <\/strong>Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through ambitious law and policy reform.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The federal government is currently rewriting our national environmental laws and updating the overarching Strategy for Nature. The updated strategy will include, among other things, goals for the restoration of degraded areas.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Part of the impetus for this reform is the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This 2022 United Nations treaty was signed by almost 200 countries committing to address the biodiversity crisis.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It includes a pledge to achieve 30 per cent of degraded land, water, coastal and marine ecosystems \u201cunder effective restoration\u201d by 2030.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But as we argue in our new correspondence in Nature Ecology and Evolution, this restoration target is wide open to interpretation at the domestic level. Some responses could be very ambitious, while others would barely shift us from the status quo. Australia has an opportunity to lead here. We can show the world how to restore land and water for the benefit of all.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Interpreting the 30 per cent restoration target
\u00a0The global framework contains 23 targets, to be \u201cinitiated immediately and completed by 2030\u201d.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The restoration target obliges countries to:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At first glance, this 30 per cent restoration target sounds like a huge and important step towards reversing biodiversity loss. But the devil is in the detail, and almost every word of this target is open to interpretation.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, the term \u201cdegraded\u201d can be interpreted in various ways. A country may interpret it to include only areas that have seen a drastic decline in biodiversity, such as those that have been totally cleared.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But if a country interprets it more broadly as areas that have experienced any decline in biodiversity, this translates to a much larger area for restoration.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The wording also refers to 30 per cent of areas of \u201cdegraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems\u201d. Crucially, it does not say effort must be spread evenly across these different ecosystems. This may lead countries to focus on areas where restoration is easier or cheaper. Given the complexities involved in marine and coastal restoration, there is a risk countries may focus their efforts on land while continuing to neglect freshwater, marine or coastal ecosystems.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The phrase \u201cunder effective restoration\u201d also has a range of possible meanings. Does \u201ceffective\u201d simply mean in a better state than it was before restoration began? Or does it mean bringing the ecosystem back to an approximation of its natural state \u2013 prior to interference from development or other harm?
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How the term \u201ceffective\u201d restoration is defined at a national scale will drastically influence reports of \u201csuccess\u201d and make it difficult to compare results between countries.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Scaling up
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Australia has signed the framework and is currently considering how to implement it domestically. If Australia does decide to interpret the restoration target broadly and commit to restoring larger areas of land and water through more ambitious standards, there will be other issues to contend with.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, one study identified a lack of funding and complex legal requirements as barriers to upscaling restoration in marine and coastal areas. In particular, having to apply for numerous government permits for restoration can slow progress and lead people to scale back their plans.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To meet the 30 per cent target, the government will need to reconsider how to fund restoration and streamline legal processes. Remember, much of the heavy lifting is currently done by non-government organisations such as The Nature Conservancy, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Bush Heritage Australia and Trust for Nature.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Leading by example
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ultimately, we argue countries should have discretion over how and where to implement restoration based on their individual circumstances. But we also think the global framework could be supplemented by standardised terminology and metrics to allow genuine comparison of countries\u2019 progress towards the global targets.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Closer to home, our analysis has some important lessons for Australia as the federal government contemplates the fate of our national environmental laws and biodiversity strategy. Australia\u2019s most recent State of the Environment Report painted a bleak picture of biodiversity decline, highlighting an urgent need to upscale restoration of our land and water.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Australia has an opportunity to take a leading role in this area and reverse our legacy of biodiversity loss. Interpreting the 30 per cent restoration target broadly and ambitiously would set us on a path towards achieving meaningful outcomes for biodiversity and make Australia a world leader in restoration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sydney, Mar 23 (The Conversation) : Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through ambitious law and policy reform.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The federal government is currently rewriting our national environmental laws and updating the overarching Strategy for Nature. The updated strategy will include, among other things, goals for the restoration of degraded areas.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,54,22],"tags":[3539,3540,1032,3541,1033],"class_list":{"0":"post-51347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-national","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-boldly-interpreting-international-law","12":"tag-earlypostdaily","13":"tag-international-law","14":"tag-latestnews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51349,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51347\/revisions\/51349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}