Arab News Japan

DUBAI: Naoko Ishii, Director of the University of Tokyo, shared during a panel at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh on Sunday that the modification of economic systems is the only solution to enhancing natural systems and restoring lands. 

“I think we are really at a critical stage of human development,” said Ishii during a session called ‘Reviving Earth: Mobilizing for a Restored World.’ “All the bad things happening surrounding us…are telling us that we are on the collision course of human economic development.” 

“The only solution to me is to have to really modify our economic system, which has been so devastating that it is eating up the capacity of the natural system,” she added.

She continued her speech by stressing the importance of land, saying that the way to reform the economic system begins with land integration.

“Land is so important because land is an integrator,” she said. “We use this word several times, but it is really more than that. To me, it is related to our life support system.” 

Despite the current consequences of land degradation that the world is currently experiencing, Ishii shared that time is on the world’s side because being carbon neutral and nature positive have become political agendas. 

“Democrats make sure that nature is on the political agenda high up, even (higher) than climate change. The challenge is, do we really know how to make this economic system transformative? We just don’t act like nature is important,” Ishii shared. 

She urged policymakers to put a price on nature so that countries can value it. “Nature does not have an adequate price yet. Our day-to-day economic decisions do not reflect it,” she said. 

“Only high income people can afford (being nature positive.) That is the reality of today. That’s why I’m actually asking the business communities with policymakers. Can we change the rules of the game to put a monetary value (on nature?) If you are able to put it on a balance sheet, then it is going to be an invincible asset,” she added. 

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of the Environment, Abdulrahman Al Fadley, also shared during the panel the importance of land integration and carbon neutrality. “We will have to collaborate and there will be international statements to declare the necessity of stopping desertification,” he said.