IFLA APR Declaration of a Regional and Global Climate and Biodiversity Emergency

The Asia-Pacific Regional Council of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA APR) declares a regional and global climate and biodiversity emergency, recognising clear evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Landscape architects understand that the greatest contribution we can make is in the enhancement of human societies, characterised through resilient systems, a willingness to adapt, and a commitment to ensuring the long term sustainability of environments, cultures and wellbeing. We need to continue to advocate for innovative approaches that encourage low carbon community development and management, and the protection and enhancement of natural systems through the integration of natural environments into human communities provided through the ecosystem services of blue and green infrastructure.

The IFLA-APR declaration made on 6 November 2019 affirms our commitment to a significant long-term shift in thinking, behaviour and policy and was unanimously endorsed by the regional council meeting’s attending member association delegates. The meeting provided a clear mandate to map out an action plan of what IFLA-APR will do in response to the issues facing the region, including:

• Air pollution levels in several of our major cities, which are the worst in the world;
• Fires across Australian states and forest fires in Indonesia and neighbouring countries that are adversely affecting the broader South East Asia region;
• Sinking cities including major urban areas such as Tokyo and Bangkok, affecting communities, infrastructure and ecologies;
• Management of storm events, reducing pollution of our waterways, and ensuring equitable access to safe drinking water are all needed to enable healthy regional and urban communities of people, plants and animals;
• Extreme weather events and the potential for devastating tsunami threaten manynations in our region.

We must look at how Landscape Architects can address, mitigate and propose innovative approaches to deal with these matters which adversely affect our communities, environments and landscapes.

IFLA-APR commits to producing an action plan which engages our members, partners, allied professions, researchers, educators, and the entire Landscape Architecture community to bring about a programme of tangible change.