Delivering a stable climate, curbing the loss of biodiversity and meeting the nutritional needs of the rapidly increasing population are three critical and intricately interlinked goals that we must achieve by 2050. In failing to address one component of this ‘triple challenge’ – as the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Global Landscapes Forum identify in this paper – we will ultimately diminish our ability to address another. A stable climate, for instance, is integral to both biodiversity and food system resilience, while conserving the variety of life on Earth is vital for maintaining key ecosystem functions such as nutrient recycling and carbon capture. Likewise, in failing to crack down on the global hunger and malnutrition crises, we increase the likelihood of land-use conflict, placing ecosystems at risk of further degradation, and diverting public funds from conservation and green energy initiatives. Therefore, while there are separate solutions to all three components of the triple challenge, it will be our ability to navigate the trade-offs between them that will ultimately determine our success in overcoming it.
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