EPISODE 118 FEATURES HELEN CROWLEY, KERING’S HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE SOURCING AND INNOVATION
Friday May 22nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity. But actually this whole year was meant to be about that. The World Economic Forum named 2020 the Year for Nature Action. It was to culminate in a big conference about the UN convention on biological diversity in Kunming, China in October. But the coronavirus pause doesn’t mean we get to hold off on action to protect Nature.
This week’s guest is Helen Crowley, Kering's head of sustainable sourcing and innovation, where she works with brands like Gucci , Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. She lives in France, but she’s an Aussie with a PhD in zoology. And this year, she’s on sabbatical with Conservation International, and is an advisor to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
What is the New Nature Agenda? How can fashion take action to not just protect biodiversity, but help regenerate it?
Want more? Episode 73 with Claire Bergkamp from Stella McCartney is here.
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BIODIVERSITY The WEF calls it “The most fundamental building block of nature” and defines it as “the variability and abundance of living organisms and their habitats.” Helen calls it “the living skin on the bones of the Earth.”
ECO SYSTEM is a community of living organisms - it’s interaction of those things living with the place they are living in.
REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE In short, regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertilizer use, and more. It is a method of farming that “improves the resources it uses, rather than destroying or depleting them,” according to the Rodale Institute.
NATURAL CAPITAL can be defined as the world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible. Via Natural Capital Forum.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES are the benefits provided to humans through the transformations of resources (or environmental assets, including land, water, vegetation and atmosphere) into a flow of essential goods and services e.g. clean air, water, and food (after Constanza et al. 1997).
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THE PROBLEM Human actions threaten more species with extinction. Biological communities are becoming too similar to each other. Loss of diversity poses a serious risk to global food security by undermining nature’s resilience. As Helen says:
“We have taken nature for granted and not values it enough.”
THE SOLUTIONS 2020 was named THE SUPER YEAR FOR BIODIVERSITY
The 2011-2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets are a set of 5 strategic goals and 20 targets that Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are intended to use as a guiding framework for their national commitments towards biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and the equitable sharing of its benefits .
CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL is an American nonprofit environmental organisation. Find them here.
DAVOS What’s it really like to attend a conference with 119 billionaires on a Swiss ski resort? Read more on Business Insider There’s lots of criticism about it being elitist, so does the conference actually do any good? More here.
NEW NATURE AGENDA is a platform for public-private cooperation that aims to catalyse a movement of businesses, governments, civil society, academics, innovators, and youth to disrupt business-as-usual. Further info here.
We’re becoming more familiar with the language of the UN, listeners will know about the SDGs, the sustainable development goals (if not, check out episode 87), and the climate change conferences. COP stands for conference of the parties, and the one we hear the most about are the climate change conferences, so you probably heard about the last one, the COP 25 in Madrid in December. But do people know about the UN Convention on Biological Diversity? READ UP HERE.
IBPES is the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Find 2019 Global Assessment report we talk about here.
LAURA TUCK is the World Bank’s vice president for sustainable development. She warns that the global business community needs to consider biodiversity as well as climate change. She says: “Nature is the foundation for health & economies, the source of our food and water and medicine, protection against weather and the air we breathe, EVERYTHING. If we don’t take care of our biosphere, we can’t provide for any of those things.”
“Fashion is really dependent on nature.” helen crowley
MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.
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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x