Restoring nature is key to a more resilient future

What the report says

WWF International Director General Kirsten Schuijt argues in an Al Jazeera opinion piece published on 15 October 2026 that restoring nature is central to economic and societal resilience. She links worsening environmental pressures, including heatwaves, wildfires, floods and droughts, to broader risks for food and water security, public health, supply chains and geopolitical stability.

The article says WWF’s Living Planet Report 2026 found monitored wildlife populations fell by 73% on average between 1970 and 2022. Against that backdrop, Schuijt says governments should use the COP17 biodiversity and COP31 climate conferences to speed up so-called positive tipping points in the energy, food and finance systems. In her view, these are the sectors most responsible for nature loss and climate damage, but also the ones where change could scale quickly once the right policies, incentives and market signals are in place.

She points to the accelerating shift from fossil fuels to renewables as evidence that large-scale transformation can happen faster than expected, and says similar momentum is needed in food production and financial flows. The piece also notes signs of recovery for some species, such as green sea turtles and tigers, as examples of what coordinated conservation can achieve. The article is framed as a call for governments, businesses, financiers and communities to align existing global commitments with faster implementation.