The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 15 is 'Life On Land' - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Dr Wayne Visser has a clear vision on how to go about meeting this goal. He is the author of more than 40 books on sustainability and is recognised as a world expert on nature, society and the economy. In this episode Dr Visser discusses with host Kate Hutchinson how nature can often be forgotten as climate change takes centre stage in environmental discourse and debate.

This episode discusses how we need to put nature and biodiversity at the heart of our current future actions as a planet, because the rates of land degradation and species loss are truly startling.

Kate and Wayne take a practical and positive approach, breaking down the challenge into 7 missions that will make a real difference - Donating, Off-setting, Greening, Sourcing, Innovating, Transforming, Tipping.

There is no doubt that SDG 15 is a real challenge - so much damage has been done to fauna and flora already, but listeners will leave this episode with a far greater understanding of an often under-featured issue and also with hope... as shown by the examples of change and innovation that Dr Visser is able to highlight.

As a published poet, Wayne Visser takes the chance to end the episode with a poem that warns, challenges and inspires.

The 17 is a podcast themed around the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A new episode is published on the 17th of each month, and explores a different one of the 17 goals in detail or discusses a topic linked to sustainability.

The UN SDGs represent an all-encompassing plan to protect the future of our planet, it is our responsibility to know what they are, understand them, and make sure that we are doing our bit to help.

Help us grow this podcast. Please subscribe on your usual podcast platform, leave reviews and spread the word about the podcast. Thank you.

The 17 is produced by Bwlb - www.bwlb.co.uk