Building Forward in Beauty and Balance: A Decade of Action Rooted in Human and Indigenous Rights

We are in the decade of action to save our planet and the people that inhabit our Island Earth. Even the world's top diplomat knows we are far from respecting indigenous knowledge rooted in respect for nature. The UN secretary-general calls for a truce today in the war on nature and calls for new relationship building on indigenous wisdom to nurture our world.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the foreword of Making Peace with Nature, “Our war on nature has left the planet broken. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering […] and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth.”

UN Secretary-General Guterres recognizes humanity is capable of changing views based on new values, citing, “By transforming how we view nature, we can recognize its true value. By reflecting this value in policies, plans and economic systems, we can channel investments into activities that restore nature and are rewarded for it.”

“Making peace with nature is the defining task of the coming decades. We must seize the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 crisis to accelerate change. This year, several major international conferences, including on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification, provide an opportunity to increase ambition and action […] Our central objective is to build a global coalition for carbon neutrality.”

“An inclusive world at peace with nature can ensure that people enjoy better health and the full respect of their human rights so they can live with dignity on a healthy planet.”

The pandemic provides a point of reference regarding what really matters the most and challenges all measurements we cherish as meaningful. Inclusionism, as defined by Mazzucelli, Keith, and Adams in this volume, integrates nature into world affairs and places the indigenous wisdom of environmental stewardship at the core of international relations while demanding a decolonization of all minds on behalf of a genuine grassroots global justice movement.

When we are not too busy making a living, there is a reimagination of the good life and how we can all contribute to a better world. Development becomes much deeper.