Commonwealth countries may soon be the benefit from a process called “regenerative development.”

Recently, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland welcomed high commissioners and climate change innovators to a Commonwealth-facilitated conference in London, calling on all to work together on technologies and approaches that have the potential to reverse climate change.

In her opening remarks, the Secretary-General noted that climate change can wreak havoc on ecosystems and societies. Some of the Commonwealth’s small island developing states face obliteration because of rising sea levels. In other countries, climate change is causing famine, migration and desertification.

Secretary-General Scotland pointed out that time and time again in Commonwealth countries including Dominica, Fiji, and more recently Mozambique, climate-related disasters had undone decades of development gains.

“The magnitude of the threat from climate change especially to those whose endowment or stage of development renders them more vulnerable and less resilient makes it necessary to shift from mere adaptation and mitigation, towards approaches capable of transforming climate change into a window of opportunity.”

Regenerative development is one such approach.

Mary Robinson, the president of the climate justice activist group—the Mary Robinson Foundation—stated that it was time that the narrative on climate change differed.

“We do need a new narrative on climate change and it’s a narrative based on solutions. The idea of regenerative development to tackle climate change makes much sense because we need to get carbon out of the atmosphere as much as possible.”

Regenerative development seeks to reverse the degeneration of ecosystems caused by human activities.