Lord Zac Goldsmith, Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment, said there was no pathway to net zero emissions without a major effort to protect and restore nature in his concluding remarks to the 14th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change (CBA14).

Goldsmith said: "It's more than likely that the current [COVID-19] pandemic, like so many before it, has resulted from our mistreatment and mismanagement of nature: it's caused misery for millions and economic disruption in every country.

"But the science is clear that if we continue to mistreat and abuse the natural world the consequences will be far worse. And so we should certainly view it as a wake-up call, and we know that even if we manage to get to grips with cutting our carbon emissions, disruptive change is inevitable - even with one and a half degrees, for instance, we still risk losing between 70 and 90 per cent of our coral reefs on which a quarter of marine species and 500 million people depend for everything from food to coastal protection."

He added: "We know that there is no pathway to net zero emissions without a major effort to protect and restore nature. We know that nature-based solutions could provide around a third of the most cost-effective climate change mitigation that we need by 2030, while also helping to reverse biodiversity loss and help people adapt to the changes that are happening. The fact that they attract just three per cent of global climate investment makes absolutely no sense at all so we're urging governments to step up."

CBA14 took place online from 21-25 September 2020. It is the leading practitioner-focused forum on climate adaptation, delivering dialogue and evidence to inform policy and action – from the local to the global scale. It will bring together practitioners, grassroots representatives, policymakers and donors for interactive discussions, workshops and skillshares.

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