Our Head of Environment Practice, Zoe Greenwood, reflects ahead of this year’s World Environment Day campaign.
A call to action around land restoration is the theme of this year’s UNEP World Environment Day. Land restoration to tackle desertification and drought, restore livelihoods, secure food supplies and help us adapt to climate change. Just to put this in context – at least one-fifth of earth’s land is now degraded according to UNEP (and this feels conservative).
There is something pleasingly pragmatic about the headline, ‘We cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, revive water sources and bring back soils.’ In other words, ‘perhaps we can just stop arguing with ourselves and get on with it.’ There is even a Spotify soundtrack to accompany the campaign (just missing Cher, ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ if you ask me).
This campaign aligns with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which aims to restore 1 billion hectares of degraded land by 2030 – no easy feat. ‘It won’t be quick or easy’ says the report ‘and it will take deep changes to everything . . . but the beauty of ecosystem restoration is that it can happen at any scale – and everyone has a role to play.’
The environment and climate jargon we’ve managed to generate over the last few decades is alienating for many, but restoring land – forests, rivers, drylands . . . the yard, is something much easier to get behind, and we all should. But to be clear this is a race, not a community engagement exercise, and big business and governments need to play alongside communities, NGOs and my kids.
Sometimes I wonder if complexity is the enemy of action. UNEP’s ‘we are the generation that can make peace with the land’ is as problematic as it is uplifting, given the shadows of colonialism and wars that surround us, and yet there is a spirituality to it which is so often lost in the language of environmentalism. It is most welcome here.
As Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist, and environmentalist, said, “Land restoration gives us hope. It demonstrates nature’s incredible ability to heal if we give it a chance and take meaningful action.”
So, what can you do?
- Join Local Clean-Up Drives: Participate in community efforts to clean and restore local and natural areas.
- Educate and Advocate: Spread the word about the importance of land restoration and sustainable practices. Host workshops or seminars in your community.
- Plant Trees: Get involved in genuine tree-planting initiatives.
- Reduce, Reuse, Refuse, Recycle: Minimise waste and encourage recycling to lessen the strain on natural resources as much as possible, at home and in workplaces.
- And, if you’re based in the UK, join many of our clients and their supporters at the Restore Nature Now march on 22nd June in London – https://rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/restore-nature-now
Zoe Greenwood
Zoe is Deputy Executive Director at Oxford HR, overseeing all of the organisation’s sector areas, with a particular focus on Climate, Nature and Sustainability. She brings deep expertise in inclusive recruitment and co-leadership, alongside a strong interest in advocacy, justice and feminist organisations.
Zoe has led CEO, Board and Director-level searches for a wide range of organisations, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Global Canopy, Ethical Tea Partnership, Positive Money, Manufacture 2030, Womankind and Climate Emergency Collaboration Group. Before joining Oxford HR, Zoe spent 16 years working across environmental NGOs in communications, field management, partnerships and leadership development. She has led cross-sector partnerships involving local organisations, global NGOs and businesses to embed sustainability principles, and has worked in some of the world’s most biodiverse regions alongside climate scientists to design and deliver nature-based behaviour change programmes for corporate leaders, teachers and young people.
In 2018, Zoe co-founded Climate Change Coaches, an organisation focused on accelerating the green transition through coaching. She is a trained coach and facilitator, and is also actively involved in the B Corp movement. In her space time she supports community development and youth engagement in Oxford.
