At COP28 in Dubai, negotiators from nearly 200 countries reached a historic agreement to “transition away” from oil, gas, and coal in a “just, orderly, and equitable manner.” In 28 years of UN climate meetings, this is the first time countries have specifically targeted fossil fuels.
The agreement also called for tripling the amount of renewable energy like wind and solar and doubling the rate of energy efficiency worldwide by 2030. And countries committed to dramatically reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The UN said the agreement is the “beginning of the end of fossil fuels.”
But scientists say countries need to commit to a much faster phase-out of coal, gas, and oil. Greenhouse gas emissions need to be slashed by 43 percent by 2030 if the world is to limit global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F).
According to the UN global “stocktake” at COP28, countries are falling far behind in achieving this goal. The world is now on track to cut emissions by only 5 percent this decade. The planet has already warmed by more than 1.2°C.
Amid the discussions on how to move forward, one important thread appeared: the need to scale up nature-based solutions.
The agreement recognized that “conserving, protecting and restoring nature and ecosystems” is critical to achieving climate mitigation and adaptation goals.
It called for “halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030,” using more landscapes as carbon sinks, and increasing protection of biodiversity.
To help more communities become resilient to climate impacts, world leaders also saw the need to set global goals on adaptation and leverage nature-based solutions to achieve them.
This way, more communities will not only be protected from harm but also experience the health, biodiversity, carbon drawdown, and economic benefits of nature-based solutions.
At COP28, landscape architect delegates advocated for maximizing the benefits of nature-based solutions through design.
Over two weeks, ASLA delegates Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO, and Pamela Conrad, ASLA, Founder of Climate Positive Design and Chair, ASLA Climate Action Plan Task Force, joined other landscape architect delegates in Dubai:
- Kotchakorn Voraakhom, International ASLA, Founder, Landprocess and Chair, Climate and Biodiversity Group Working Group, International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA)
- Kongjian Yu, FASLA, Founder, Turenscape, and Professor and Dean, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Peking University, and winner of the 2023 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
- Catherine Seavitt, FASLA, Professor and Chair, Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania
Together, they spoke at more than 40 sessions. Eight ASLA virtual delegates joined online.
Conrad said the meeting resulted in progress, but much more work is needed. “Countries acknowledged fossil fuels are the problem, but it is not enough. The agreement did not include the phase out commitment that is required to stay within the 1.5°C threshold and avoid the worst effects of climate change.”
“Attending COPs always gives me hope for humanity and what I do as a landscape architect. Climate change has become our collective ambition. It is the first time in human history that we are working towards one goal,” Voraakhom said.
“But there is also our past collective karma in the air. We are not on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals. And where are the benefits for those who are vulnerable and will soon be displaced? What about the millions of climate migrants who will experience loss and damage from climate impacts?”
Conrad said “gaining traction on the loss and damage fund was an important moment on the first day of COP28. While the $700 million pledged — and the $17.5 million from the U.S. — is not nearly enough to cover our historic emissions and damage to many developing countries, it is the first step in recognizing those harms and doing something about them.”
“Without a global adaptation strategy, there will be more severe loss and damages for communities worldwide,” Voraakhom said. “We need to raise more funds for measuring the performance of nature-based solutions. People are now convinced about their benefits more than ever. But it’s now back to us — landscape architects — to make them solid, measurable, and able to be financed.”
Kongjian Yu, FASLA, who attended COP28 as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) delegation and spoke at IUCN and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) events, reached a similar conclusion.
At this year’s meeting, “nature-based solutions became widely accepted and discussed among financial institutions.”
But he argued that “landscape architects need to speak louder about these solutions, which is the core of landscape architects’ past and future practice and research.”
“Landscape architects need to demonstrate their performance. This is urgently needed to make landscape architects more visible and consolidate our ability to transition communities away from conventional gray infrastructure.”
Conrad also sees the need to “leverage carbon markets to increase financial support for the work landscape architects do. And we need to expand our current metrics and tools to go beyond carbon and quantify biodiversity, health, heat, and water.”
In her discussions with policymakers and other delegates at COP28, Conrad found “there was great support for nature-based solutions for all; the rights and wisdom of Indigenous peoples; the use of bio-based low-carbon materials; and linking the climate and biodiversity crises. These were all topics we included in the ASLA Climate Action Plan. It was great to see them recognized on the global stage.”
Carter-Conneen said “landscape architects were out in force at COP28. I saw firsthand the passion and expertise of our member leaders. And as a delegation, we made real progress by engaging and educating global policymakers, private sector leaders and peer climate advocates about the value of nature-based solutions as critical components of any mitigation or adaptation strategies.”
“As a landscape architect and designer with a focus on equitable adaptation of cities, I have been keenly interested in traditional ecological knowledge, and the role this knowledge will play in decarbonization and a just transition,” said Seavitt, who attended as part of the University of Pennsylvania delegation and whose research is focused on the Amazon rainforest.
At COP28, “Mary Lyons, an Ojibwe Elder and wisdom keeper of North America, said succinctly in reference to indigenous land stewardship: ‘Ours is not the old way, but the right way.'”
“I came away from COP28 with the thought that landscape architects are key to supporting the ‘how’ of climate policies. What does a just transition look like? How do we incorporate indigenous knowledge in a way that is equitable for all human and more-than-human species? What does that look like?”
“That’s where landscape architects come in with our skills in ecology, interconnectedness, transborder thinking, and visualization of what our futures might look like,” Seavitt said.
Looking ahead to COP29 next year in Azerbaijan, Carter-Conneen said: “we will build on our engagement this year, providing more data on the environmental, social and economic benefits of green infrastructure and emphasizing the strategic importance of including landscape architects in the global effort to stabilize our climate.”
Conrad sees the need to build relationships with policymakers, technology companies, financial institutions, and philanthropists.
“We also need to strengthen our relationships with our allies — civil engineers, architects, planners, and ecologists — so we can represent one collective voice for the built and natural environments. This is a ‘link arms’ moment. We are stronger when we work together, and the future of our planet depends on it.”
Yu said “we need to increase collaboration with policymakers to change business as usual. We need to work with civil engineers to more aggressively integrate ecology and nature-based solutions.”
“We also need to work with the media to change the culture and educate the public that these solutions are key to adapting cities and regions. And we need to work with financial institutions to make them understand that good landscape architecture will bring benefits. Together, we can find a way to create projects that can be financed.”