In Montreal, Canada, within the framework of the UN Summit on Biodiversity, COP15, most of the 196 attending countries reached an agreement, classified as historic by the parties, where they commit to protect the biodiversity of the 30th century by 2030. % oceans and planet land. In addition, they managed to reach a financing agreement of 200,000 million dollars.
Negotiators attending the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity, COP15, reached an unprecedented agreement to protect 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030, a pact known as 30 for 30.
Currently, 17% of terrestrial areas and 10% of marine areas are protected.
The commitment reached is to act on land and sea so that the loss of areas of great importance for biodiversity, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, is as close to zero by 2030. In addition, it seeks respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
Indigenous representatives gathered at the summit mentioned that this could prove crucial to protect them from the effects of extractive industries and conservation efforts that have historically driven them off their traditional lands.
The representative of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, FIIB, Viviana Figueroa, said that “now they recognize that indigenous peoples can also contribute to the conservation of biodiversity”, and that for them “it is like a paradigm shift. They are recognizing this important role that was invisible.”
The parties committed by 2030 to halve excess nutrients and the risk to the planet from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals.
At another point, it seeks to prevent the arrival of exotic and invasive species to different geographical areas. In addition, halve food waste, as well as significantly reduce excessive consumption and waste generation.
The agreement also calls for raising $200 billion by 2030 for biodiversity from various sources and working to phase out or reform subsidies that could bring another $500 billion to nature.
“We have in our hands a package that I believe can guide us in our joint work to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity and put it on the path of recovery for the benefit of all the peoples of the world,” said Chinese Environment Minister, Huang Runqiu, adding “We can be truly proud.”
The financing package includes increasing the money that goes to poor countries by about 20,000 million dollars a year by 2025. A figure that would be 30,000 million dollars by 2030.
For Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada, the host country of COP 25, many wanted “more things in the text and more ambition”, but that they achieved “an ambitious package”, adding that “We have 30 to 30. Six months ago, who would have thought we could hit 30 for 30 in Montreal? We have an agreement to stop and reverse the loss of biodiversity, to work on restoration, to reduce the use of pesticides. It’s tremendous progress.”
Another of the attendees, Christophe Béchu, French Minister of Ecological Transition, described it as a “historic agreement” and mentioned that “it is not a small agreement. It is an agreement with very precise and quantified objectives on pesticides, on reducing the loss of species, on the elimination of bad subsidies” and he maintained that funding for biodiversity doubled until 2025 and tripled until 2030.
Most of the country envoys agreed that the protection of biodiversity has to be a priority. Many compared those efforts to the climate talks that concluded last month in Egypt.
A 2019 report estimated that one million plant and animal species face extinction within decades, a rate of loss 1,000 times higher than expected, due to climate change, coupled with habitat loss, pollution and pollution. developing.
According to that report, human beings use some 50,000 wild species on a routine basis, where 1 in 5 people of the 8,000 million inhabitants of the planet depend on these species for food and income.
Controversies to reach agreement
Financing has been one of the most contentious issues. Delegates from 70 African, South American and Asian countries walked out of the negotiations on Wednesday and returned several hours later.
One of the Namibian negotiators, Pierre du Plessis, said that “all the elements are there for a balance of discontent, which is the secret to reaching an agreement in the UN bodies”, and that “everyone got a little what I wanted, not necessarily all I wanted.
Brazil, the country with the largest economy in Latin America, took the lead and said in a statement that a new financing mechanism dedicated to biodiversity should be established and that developed countries provide 100 billion dollars a year in financial subsidies to emerging economies. until 2030.
The issue of financing was one of the last to arise at COP15 and was the one that almost derailed the agreement. Several African countries delayed the final agreement for nearly nine hours as they sought the creation of a biodiversity fund, but agreed to one being created under the already existing Global Environment Facility, or GEF.
French Minister Béchu said that “creating a fund under the GEF is the best way to get something immediate and effective,” adding that creating a completely new one would have taken several years to set up and deprived developing countries of money immediately for biodiversity.
Among the countries that opposed it is Congo, who got up from the table, and Cameroon and Uganda joined. Although there was no formal opposition, so their arguments that sought the creation of a special fund for developing countries were not taken into account.
Concerns from environmental groups
For the Wildlife Conservation Society and other environmental groups, they are concerned that the agreement postpones until 2050 the objective of avoiding the extinction of species, maintaining the genetic diversity of populations and preserving the integrity of ecosystems. They are concerned that this deadline is not so ambitious .
For the director of Global Policy, Institutions and Financing of The Nature Conservancy, Andrew Deutz, “the new text is a mixed bag. It contains some strong signals on financing and biodiversity, but it does not go beyond the objectives of 10 years ago in terms of addressing the drivers of biodiversity loss in productive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and infrastructure, so it is still running the risk of being totally transformative.”
With AP, EFE and Reuters
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