David Attenborough in his recent book ‘A life on our planet’ expresses: ‘We share Earth with the living world – the most remarkable life-support system imaginable, constructed over billions of years. The planet’s stability has wavered just as biodiversity has declined – the two things are bound together. To restore stability to our planet, therefore we must restore its biodiversity, the very thing we have removed’.
His thinking draws on the long-term environmental challenges described as “planetary boundaries” by a group of scientists led by Johan Rockström and Will Steffen. These were nine limits outside which there were likely to be runaway effects and tipping points with dangerous and unpredictable consequences.
"This framework is a tool that can be used to change the way we think about nature and its place in the hierarchy. It’s trying to make a system change to our economic model.” To watch an interesting video discussing this click here
The Commitment focuses on two of these boundaries – climate change and biodiversity loss – aiming to increase government led action to support these areas.
Our Thought Leadership Paper, ‘Governance and Long Term Environmental Challenges’ is aimed at not-for-profit organisations and is an attempt to suggest practical examples of possible board responses to long term environmental challenges through the framework of “planetary boundaries.” The paper indicates how to begin discussions in Board Meetings presenting five possible questions:
Do planetary boundaries matter to our organisation? Why? Which ones?
What are realistic priorities for how we respond?
Who will do what?
Is there anything we need to establish to take this forward such as a task force or an annual review?
How will we know that we are making progress?
To read the thought leadership paper in full, click here. Thank you for Peter (Moore), our Governance Advisor for dedicated time on this.
Johan Rockström quote: “We take it for granted. The world that we love.”
Have a great week!
Ellie, Lorna, Rosie and Ian