Nations Sign COP15 to Protect the Future of Biodiversity

An inter­na­tional agree­ment has been reached with the goal of pro­tect­ing 30 per­cent of the world’s land, coastal areas and oceans and 30 per­cent of degraded ecosys­tems by 2030. The pact addresses bio­di­ver­sity loss, restores ecosys­tems, and pro­tects indige­nous rights.

The new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) has been signed by the nations par­tic­i­pat­ing in the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) held in Montreal, Canada.

From December 7 – 19, hun­dreds of indige­nous asso­ci­a­tions, envi­ron­men­tal­ists, researchers and busi­ness lead­ers from around the world joined envi­ron­men­tal min­is­ters from almost 200 coun­tries to address the bio­di­ver­sity cri­sis crip­pling the planet.

The sig­na­to­ries of the GBF also agreed to pro­vide new funds to the least devel­oped coun­tries and devel­op­ing states with the goal of boost­ing bio­di­ver­sity.

“The stakes could not be higher: the planet is expe­ri­enc­ing a dan­ger­ous decline in nature due to human activ­ity. It is expe­ri­enc­ing its largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. One mil­lion plant and ani­mal species are now threat­ened with extinc­tion, many within decades,” the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) wrote in a note announc­ing the new agree­ment.

The frame­work should achieve a few pri­mary global goals, which include the ten­fold reduc­tion of the extinc­tion rate for all species by 2050 and end­ing the human-induced extinc­tion of threat­ened species.

Other sig­nif­i­cant com­mit­ments of the agree­ment include devel­op­ing a sus­tain­able approach and using bio­di­ver­sity to acknowl­edge the value of nature. The agree­ment also aims to fairly share the ben­e­fits of genetic resources and dig­i­tal sequence infor­ma­tion.

The United States and the Vatican did not par­tic­i­pate in the Convention or sign the final agree­ment.

Still, the U.S. admin­is­tra­tion’s bio­di­ver­sity envoy, Monica Medina, met with COP15 del­e­gates and dis­cussed the U.S.‘s cur­rent bio­di­ver­sity strate­gies, which include the pro­tec­tion of at least 30 per­cent of land and oceans and con­sis­tent par­tic­i­pa­tion in the United Nations Global Environment Facility.

To become effec­tive, the frame­work will have to be rat­i­fied and adopted by the sign­ing coun­tries. ​“Success will be mea­sured by our rapid and con­sis­tent progress in imple­ment­ing what we have agreed to. The entire U.N. sys­tem is geared to sup­port its imple­men­ta­tion so we can truly make peace with nature,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP exec­u­tive direc­tor.

The final agree­ment also listed 23 sec­to­r­ial tar­gets. They include restor­ing 30 per­cent of ter­res­trial and marine ecosys­tems, reduc­ing the loss of highly rel­e­vant bio­di­ver­sity-rich areas to near zero and halv­ing global food waste.

The frame­work included a series of finan­cial and credit com­mit­ments des­tined to impact bio­di­ver­sity. It asked par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries to reduce sub­si­dies that harm bio­di­ver­sity, such as those sup­port­ing the fos­sil fuel indus­try, by at least $500 bil­lion per year. Countries should accom­pany this decrease with incen­tives for com­pa­nies devel­op­ing bio­di­ver­sity and con­ser­va­tion-friendly solu­tions.

The agree­ment also asks for $200 bil­lion annu­ally to fund bio­di­ver­sity-related projects. Such funds will be added to the at least $30 bil­lion a year that devel­oped coun­tries will trans­fer to devel­op­ing nations. These funds will help sus­tain the frame­work’s goals.

Finally, the GBF tar­gets require transna­tional com­pa­nies and finan­cial insti­tu­tions to mon­i­tor, assess and trans­par­ently dis­close the risks and impacts on bio­di­ver­sity their oper­a­tions, port­fo­lios, sup­ply and value chains cre­ate.

As reported by The Guardian, the min­is­ter for Environment and Climate Change Canada, Steven Guilbeault, called the agree­ment ​“a major win for our planet and all of human­ity, chart­ing a new course away from the relent­less destruc­tion of habi­tats and species.”

“Governments have cho­sen the right side of his­tory in Montreal,” World Wildlife Fund International direc­tor gen­eral, Marco Lambertini, told Reuters. But he warned that the GBF ​“could be under­mined by slow imple­men­ta­tion and fail­ure to mobi­lize the promised resources. It also lacks a manda­tory ratch­et­ing mech­a­nism that will hold gov­ern­ments account­able to increase action if tar­gets are not met.”

“Make no mis­take: this is a his­toric result for nature. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework pro­vides a long-needed inter­na­tional blue­print to guide our col­lec­tive turn­around of nature’s for­tunes within this cru­cial decade,” Andrew Deutz, Nature Conservancy’s direc­tor of Global Policy, Institutions and Conservation Finance, said in a note.

• The final agree­ment offi­cial announce­ment