'A reaffirmation of what we know': Grim UN biodiversity report unsurprising to many scientists, First Nations

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Indigenous people in Canada and scientific communities say the findings in the UN'sfirst comprehensive report on biodiversityaretroubling, but notsurprising.

"Our elders have been talking to us about an extinction event for many years now. My uncle sang a song of sacred urgency to me years ago, and that sacred urgency has stayed in my heart since then," said Eli Enns, a Canadian expert in biocultural heritage and member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation on Vancouver Island.

"So this report is a reaffirmation of what we know," he toldThe Current's guest host Matt Galloway.

The UN report, released Monday,paints a grim picture for over one million species of plants and animals, which are at risk of extinction manywithin decades, UN scientists say.The report emphasizes that a radical shift in conservation efforts is needed to mitigate a mass species extinction.

In terms of conserving and using nature sustainably, the report highlighted that areas held or managed by Indigenous communities have been less severelyimpacted.

"It's been working. I mean, it's not perfect, but certainly, we've seen a lot of progress I certainly have not given up. And if we know who we are, if we believe in ourselves and we're bold for future generations, I think we can turn this around," saidEnns, who works with the Iisaak Olam Foundation, a biological and cultural diversity conservancy in Victoria.

Sally Otto,a zoology professor at the University of British Columbia, saysa report of this stature has the power to openpeople's eyes.

"Many of us have been living and watching these declines. The scientific literature has been very clear," she said.

"We really need a transformational change here in Canada as well as globally ...We need to be strengthening and really building a resolve and a vision that isreciprocal, and that we don't continue to expand and extract wherever we want."

To discuss the UN's biodiversity report and what it means for the future of our planet, Galloway spoke to:

• Eli Enns,a member of Tla-o-qui-ahtFirst Nation and president of the Iisaak Olam Foundation, a biological and cultural diversity conservancy in Victoria, B.C.

• Stuart Pimm, professor of conservation ecology at Duke University and world leader in the study of present-day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them.

• Sally Otto, UBC zoology professor and Canadian biodiversity expert, former director of Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia.

Click 'listen' near the top of this page to hear the full conversation.

Written by milie Quesnel.Produced by Julie Crysler, John Chipman and JulianneHazlewood.