We are all DukDukDiya: Humming Bird
with one drop of water at a time
By Jamison Ervin
Jamison Ervin is manager,
UNDP’s Global Programme on
Nature for Development
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11
2019 (IPS) - There is a Quechan
fable about a hummingbird
named Dukdukdiya. During a
fierce forest fire, while all other
animals stood in stunned fear,
Dukdukdiya alone took action
by repeatedly carrying a single
drop of water in her beak to
the flames. When asked why
she bothered with such paltry
efforts, she replied that she was
simply doing everything in her
power to stop the fire.
Over the past several
months, the release of three
global reports, each tied to one
of the three Rio Conventions,
has made many of us feel like
DukDukDiya, battling the dual
challenges of biodiversity loss
and climate change with one
drop of water at a time.
The Living Planet Report,
released in November, put a
point on negotiations at the
biennial UN Biodiversity Conference
by painting a stark picture
of biodiversity loss, showing
an overall decline of 60
percent in population sizes of
more than 4,000 species since
1970.
A new atlas on global desertification,
linked to the UN
Convention to Combat Desertification,
portrays a world
struggling to cope with growing
water scarcity, land degradation
and desertification.
And just prior to the annual
UN Climate Conference, the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change released a special
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climate report that sent
shock waves around the world
— stating unequivocally that
we have just 12 years to tackle
climate change before largely
irreversible and profound
changes shape our world.
These reports, along with
droves of supporting evidence
and research, have resulted in
apocalyptic news stories, with
headlines claiming, for example,
that 2019 and 2020 are
“humanity’s two most crucial
years” that will determine “to
what extent Earth remains
habitable.“ Despite these headlines,
and the global media
attention to biodiversity loss
and climate change, the world
seems almost paralyzed to take
action. 2018, for example, will
be the worst year in a decade for
tropical forest loss, and greenhouse
gas emissions increased
by 2.7 percent in 2018.
What is required is nothing
less than a system transformation
of three basic elements
of society: how we provide
enough food, water, energy and
consumer goods for 7.7 billion
of us; how we invest our more
than $100 trillion in investable
wealth and how we spend our
roughly $75 trillion in annual
global GDP; and how we protect,
manage and restore our
world’s single most important
asset, worth more than $125
trillion annually in goods and
services: nature.
We know that stemming the
loss of biodiversity and tackling
our climate crisis will require
all members of society, doing
all that they can, starting
now. Already there are signs
of change. Commodity traders
such as Wilmar, which supplies
40 percent of the world’s palm
oil, recently published a plan to
completely eliminate deforestation
from its supply chain, as
part of its commitment as an
endorser of the New York Declaration
on Forests.
El Salvador is leading the
world toward a global decade of
ecosystem restoration. Recently,
415 investors worth $32 trillion
in assets sent an open letter
to governments at the climate
conference, urging them
to take climate action.
Societal transformation
takes bold leadership, not only
from companies, governments
and investors, but from everyone.
One of boldest, most
memorable leaders during
the climate conference this
month was Greta Thunberg,
a slight 15-year-old Swedish
girl with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Her poignant speech
to UN delegates begins with a
simple statement: “I’ve learned
that you’re never too small to
make a difference.” Her message,
that system change is
necessary and is upon us, has
been shared on YouTube more
than 250,000 times, and she’s
amassed a Twitter following of
nearly 70,000 since she joined
in June.
Not all of us can easily transform
whole businesses, government
policy or large asset
investments. But we can transform
our own lives, and we
can have transformative conversations
with others. For
example, we can ask ourselves,
our employers and our religious
institutions whether our
retirement savings are invested
in businesses linked to deforestation,
or to fossil fuels, and
whether or not they are climate
proof – most aren’t.
We can ensure that events
we host professionally offer vegetarian
options and avoid food
waste — two of the most potent
ways to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, and we can talk to
others about these choices.
There are so many actions we
can take and so many conversations
we can have in our personal
and professional lives that
can transform our world. Even
if our beaks are very small, and
we can only carry one drop of
water at a time, what matters
most is that we do everything
in our power that we can.
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Community members restoring mangroves at Mikoko Pamoja in Kenya, winners of the
Equator Prize in 2017. UNDP Equator Initiative
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