Reverse the Red, the global movement to ensure the survival of wild species
Ameerega planipaleae, Critically Endangered (Photo: Ariadne Angulo)
You don’t often hear good news stories about species conservation and there is an obvious reason for that: deforestation and land conversion, pollution and global warming, poaching and illegal wildlife trade, disease outbreaks, and the overriding threat of a growing human population and all that comes with it, continue unabated. Furthermore, conservation is often focused at a project level, rather than the system level and too often is plagued by competition for resources, lack of collaboration, and reactionary approaches. The result is that increasingly more species and ecosystems are in peril, as has been laid out comprehensively in the recent Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5), published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The report provides an overview of the state of nature worldwide and called for urgent action to be scaled up to conserve and restore biodiversity.
However, we do not need an apocalyptic vision for the future. What we need is rational hope, motivated by a clear vision, strong partnerships, and the desire to make strategic, successful conservation a global movement. We need a strategic model that guides us more clearly to where our efforts should be focused; helps us to roll up our sleeves and work together towards creating shared processes leading to shared successes.
We know that conservation can and does work, that communities and projects around the world are slowing or reversing trends in species or ecosystem loss. We know the focus must shift from problems to solutions. What we need is urgent leadership and a system to inform and dramatically scale up successful, strategic, coordinated conservation. We need a unified global strategy to tie these efforts together and create a global movement.
You have a choice to make: will you be a bystander watching the gradual and relentless loss of biodiversity with the inevitable extinction of species we love, or will you join us to make a positive and meaningful change to the way we approach conservation? Every person and organization on the planet has a vested interest in the ongoing survival of animals, plants, and fungi. We also all have shared power and resources that can be pooled to contribute to the fight for the planet.
A strong partnership
The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) share a commitment to using rigorous science to inform and mobilize action aimed at solving complex conservation challenges. They also share an exceptional ability to unite and mobilize stakeholders across government, NGOs, and the academic and private sectors, and connect with communities around the world. Together they have an unprecedented ability to unite the global conservation community, and other critical players around a strategy and effort to protect the world’s ecosystems and species.
The SSC and WAZA are also joined by partner organizations: HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism, On the Edge Conservation, San Diego Zoo Global.
Reverse the Red – the Big Idea
Ocelot (Photo: P. Meier)
The goal of Reverse the Red is simple but ambitious, we need to turn around the trends that show we are pushing our environment to the brink – we need to Reverse the Red.
To reverse the trends in species and ecosystem loss we need systemic change. The Reverse the Red campaign is a global movement aimed at bringing together a diverse coalition of partners to collaborate, scale-up aspirations and impact, and engage people from all walks of life to take action for species and ecosystems.
Reverse the Red calls on countries around the world to commit to demonstrating positive progress in their national targets towards the Convention on Biological Diversity port-2020 biodiversity targets. Reverse the Red will unite tools and partnerships to support countries and make this a reality. The current trajectory for species survival and ecosystem health is negative; but through clear, intelligent planning, ambitious capacity building, and increased collaborative action we can turn this trend around, we can Reverse the Red.
Reverse the Red Goals
Engage conservation partners at national, regional, and global levels to consolidate standardized tools and practices. Launch Reverse the Red as an umbrella mechanism for species and ecosystem conservation.
Work with pilot countries to refine and roll out tools and collaborative strategies. Increase national-level capacity and commitment to utilizing the Reverse the Red framework for target-based species and ecosystem assessments, planning, and action.
Empower in-country Reverse the Red partners to engage and activate their local communities with a diverse suite of optimism-driven, locally relevant pro-biodiversity educational resources, custom experiences, advocacy, and behavior-change campaigns.
Convene a regular global reporting mechanism and congress (forum) to report on and celebrate national progress in reversing species and ecosystems declines.
Next Steps
Reverse the Red partners had hoped to further engage the conservation community with the concept of Reverse the Red through a pavilion at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in January 2021. However due to current circumstances with COVID-19 the Congress has been postponed with new dates still to be established.
In the meantime, we will continue working hard to develop a dynamic program for the Reverse the Red Pavilion with many IUCN and WAZA members, leading NGOs, and key Multinational Environment Agreements. We will increase discussions with key partners, including a number of governments, with the aim of adding several country delegations to the Reverse the Red partnership and developing a strong web presence and communication strategy to showcase stories of species conservation success and begin progress towards the wider Reverse the Red partnership goals.
Webinars
In November, the coalition launched Reverse the Red webinar series, featuring the IUCN Presidential Candidates and inspiring conservation leaders, to introduce and further discuss the concept of the Reverse the Red movement.
You can view the recordings of the webinars, here:
By Dr Jenny Gray, Zoos Victoria; Dr Kira Mileham and Dr Jon Paul Rodríguez, IUCN Species Survival Commission; Dr Onnie Byers, IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group; Dr Martín Zordan, WAZA.