What follows is a guest posting from Professor Stephen Martin<\/p>\n
Yet another dire warning about the alarming loss of planetary biodiversity (Guardian 3 November<\/a>: Two years to make a deal for nature or we face extinction<\/em>).\u00a0 Once again this highlights the telling absence of political leadership in making this, above all, a matter of the utmost importance to our very survival on planet earth.\u00a0 The UN\u2019s biodiversity chief, Christiana Pasca Palmer, is absolutely right to bang the global drum, loudly and urgently for all of us to exert immense pressure on our governments to set ambitious global targets. Our own government was one of the first to sign up to the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; sometimes referred to as the Global Goals) in 2015. \u00a0The 17 Global Goals and associated targets, define the universal global priorities and aspirations for 2030. \u00a0They represent an unprecedented opportunity to tackle the root causes of biodiversity loss, eliminate extreme poverty and put the world on a more sustainable path. \u00a0Yet three years after the Global Goals were agreed, the UK government does not have a compelling, coherent and transparent plan on how it is going to achieve them. \u00a0Moreover, the UK government has made a commitment to report on the UK\u2019s progress at the UN in July 2019, and they are nowhere near delivering it.\u00a0 This report should be developed through a participatory and inclusive process resulting in meaningful, measurable commitments and with the engagement of decentralised administrations, local governments and other stakeholders. \u00a0This approach is analogous to the process that is exemplified by the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD) group which published a comprehensive national progress report called \u201cMeasuring Up<\/a>\u201d in July.<\/p>\n