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Abstract:
Human activities are driving a global decline in biodiversity and are interfering with the natural processes essential for human well-being. Achieving climate and development goals is impossible without keeping nature intact. In this article, we establish the urgent need for a paradigm shift toward a “Nature Positive” (NP) future, where the health and resilience of the Earth system are recognized as the fundamental basis for human prosperity. This requires that humanity acts to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) provides a critical roadmap for this NP goal, and global policy increasingly recognizes that environmental targets can only be effective when integrated with global climate, ocean, and human development agreements. This requires a biodiversity conservation approach that accounts for both biotic and abiotic components of the Earth system. We assess the adequacy of GBF targets for stabilizing the Earth system and highlight key gaps. We employ the Three Global Conditions Framework (3Cs), which categorizes landscapes by human impact levels as a practical method for guiding appropriate NP actions, and we extend its application to the marine realm. We outline specific actions and metrics for patterns and processes across all scales needed to achieve biodiversity conservation in synergy with climate stabilization and securing freshwater systems. Our findings emphasize that preventing the loss of intact biomes, ecosystems, and species assemblages is the most critical strategy while acknowledging the urgency of extinction prevention and the need for restoration. Additionally, we highlight the importance of incorporating Indigenous and local knowledge systems alongside scientific methods to achieve effective and equitable conservation outcomes. Finally, we discuss the need for economic transformation and the private sector’s role in fostering an NP future.
