Nature in Action: Tackling Climate and Biodiversity Together
The CIWEM-CIEEM article series: ‘Tackling the Twin Crises’ has done more than share expertise, it has shown how deeply environmental challenges are intertwined, and how the people working across water, ecology, and environmental management are already part of the solution.
The Crises Are Interlinked and Escalating
Climate change and biodiversity loss are locked in a cycle of cause and consequence. Warming, flooding, and drought drive species decline; damaged ecosystems then lose their ability to regulate climate. Every article in this series underscored that point: we cannot solve one without addressing the other.
Across the UK, the data tells the same story. Woodland creation is lagging far behind the 30,000 hectare annual target for net zero. Only a quarter of our peatlands are in near natural condition, and we are still losing seagrass faster than we can restore it. The UK has pledged to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, but only 6% of UK land is currently well protected and in 2024, The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee warned that urgent action is needed to meet the target. These numbers are not abstract; they show the scale of what still needs to happen if we are serious about reversing decline and building resilience.
Nature Holds the Solutions
What is encouraging is that the solutions are already out there – nature-based solutions. Peatland restoration, tree planting, wetland creation, seagrass recovery, and coral rehabilitation are all proven ways to capture carbon, store water, reduce flood risk, and rebuild ecosystems. Freshwater research reminds us that even the smallest habitats, such as ponds, headwaters, and fens, can have outsized benefits when managed well. Coastal projects also show that saltmarshes and seagrass meadows can sequester carbon up to four times faster than tropical forests but have declined sharply; up to 85% of seagrass beds have been lost globally, and restoration remains small-scale.
We know these solutions work. The challenge now is to do it faster, together, and at scale.
Collaboration Is Not Optional
No single profession or organisation can tackle this alone. The best examples in this series, from climate resilient catchments to biodiversity positive development, came from partnerships that crossed boundaries: engineers with ecologists, planners with communities, scientists with policymakers. This kind of collaboration multiplies results.
Even small, local actions can have national impact when they connect across landscapes and catchments. A restored pond network, a patch of urban greenspace, or a community led wetland project might seem minor in isolation, but add them up, and they become the foundation of climate and ecological resilience.
People and Skills Make It Happen
The Green Jobs Taskforce (UK government) set a target to create 2 million skilled green jobs by 2030 in natural resources, low-carbon and net-zero-aligned sectors. The move to a nature positive economy, educators, trainers, and assessors are needed to mainstream green skills and expert communicators will be needed to inspire green career pathways. But as Article 6: ‘Green Skills’ reminded us, this cannot rely on unpaid experience or chance encounters. Paid placements, apprenticeships, and accessible training routes are how we build a workforce that truly reflects society and has the capacity to deliver. Diversity of background brings diversity of thought, and that is exactly what these complex challenges need.
Urgency Meets Opportunity
The next five years will decide whether we can still meet our 2030 and 2050 goals. The UN SDG Report 2025, UNEP Emissions Gap Report, and Global Tipping Points Report all show that progress is too slow, but not impossible. If we accelerate now, investing properly in nature, aligning climate and biodiversity policy, and empowering people to lead, we can still turn things around.
COP30 in Belém reinforced the global drive to unite climate and biodiversity action, with negotiators adopting the Belém Package to accelerate implementation and embed nature-based solutions within national climate and adaptation plans. A major focus was scaling and improving adaptation finance, with calls to significantly increase funding and make it more predictable and accessible for locally led restoration and resilience projects. While COP30 strengthened political alignment between climate and nature agendas and highlighted the importance of Indigenous and community leadership, analysts noted that finance and delivery still fall short of what is needed to mobilise nature at scale. For the UK, the government voiced support for stronger implementation but declined to join a flagship tropical forest finance facility, underscoring the ongoing gap between ambition and concrete public investment. COP30 outcomes reinforce the core themes of this article series: that scaling nature-based solutions requires stable funding, stronger skills pathways, and cross-sector collaboration to move from commitments to real-world delivery.
Conclusion
That is what this whole series has been about. The solutions are here. The science is clear. The skills exist. What is needed now is the collective will to act, not in silos, but as one community of professionals who understand that climate resilience and nature recovery are two sides of the same coin.
The crises are urgent, but they are not hopeless. Acting together, we can turn urgency into opportunity and make the coming decade one defined not by loss, but by renewal.
Discover the rest of the articles in this collaborative series here:
About the authors
Ruby Falcus BSc (Hons), MSc Ruby is a Terrestrial Ecologist at Haskoning, coordinating ecology surveys on a wide range of large infrastructure projects. She also plays a key role in CIEEM, serving as member of the Early Careers Special Interest Group with a passion for encouraging financially disadvantaged students to enter the field of ecology and break down any barriers they may face.
Alice Slattery MSci (Hons), GradCIWEM Alice is a Natural Capital Consultant at Savills, where she provides valuation and consultancy services to a wide range of clients including private landowners, public bodies, charities, lenders, and institutions. Passionate about restoring the natural environment, she focuses on understanding and highlighting the value of ecosystem services for landscapes and communities. Alice is a member of the CIWEM Early Careers Steering Group, where she helps develop content and organise events that support professional growth and networking for early-career practitioners.