This year, to coincide with a largely virtual UN General Assembly, and the first ever UN Biodiversity Summit, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is collaborating with more than 40 organizations to create a virtual ‘Nature for Life Hub.’ The Hub, running on 24, 25, 28, and 29 September, is filled with 18 sessions across four days of programming, and includes more than 300 speakers, ranging from heads of state to youth leaders, indigenous leaders to CEOs – all united in a common purpose of mobilizing action on nature. The theme of the Hub is ‘Nature for Life: Putting Nature at the Heart of Sustainable Development and Green Recovery.’

The various sessions highlight some of the essential transformations that are required in order to halt and even reverse biodiversity loss in the coming decade. These include putting nature at the heart of sustainable development planning, transforming business and finance to become nature-positive, scaling up global ambition and political will on action for nature, and scaling up local action on nature. There is also a virtual newsroom from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on all four days where reporters can join and schedule interviews with presenters.

The Nature for Life Hub will culminate in the Local Action Day on 29 September, highlighting indigenous and local solutions to the planetary crisis. The Equator Prize Award Ceremony – held virtually from 9.00 AM to 10.30 AM – will celebrate ten indigenous and local communities that are advancing exceptional nature-based solutions to the biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable development challenges.

In the three award categories – Nature for Water, Nature for Climate, and Nature for Prosperity – the winners show that the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of ecosystems are indispensable for the achievement of global development and environment agendas. Their work also provides pathways for replication and scaling up.

The Award Ceremony will feature videos about the work of the winners, community statements by local leaders to convey their messages to the UN Biodiversity Summit, as well as musical and cultural performances. Statements by actor Henry Golding (‘Crazy Rich Asians’), primatologist Jane Goodall, Grammy-winning musicians Ricky Kej and Lila Downs, as well as well as UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner will convey support to the winners, which stand exemplary for grassroots movements supporting environmental causes. To support advocacy and scaling efforts at national level, the awards will be presented by eminent personalities from the winners’ countries, including Olympic champion Clara Hughes (Canada), actor and producer Trudie Styler (for Ecuador), peace activist Lahpai Seng Raw (Myanmar), actor Nicholas Saputra (Indonesia), and actor Khemupsorn “Cherry” Sirisukha (Thailand), among others.

Additional sessions of the Local Action Day will explore the contributions of youth in acting on nature-based solutions, focusing on: opportunities in disrupting a status quo that offers little hope for future generations; the role of human rights in conservation and how conservation efforts can go hand in hand with the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities; and stories and solutions from environmental defenders at the frontlines of protecting ecosystems and indigenous territories against illegal incursion and destruction, in a context of more than 200 murders of environmental defenders in 2019 alone.

All sessions of the Nature for Life Hub are streamed live at www.NatureForLifeHub.org.