The United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) ended in Montreal, Canada, on 19 December 2022 with a landmark agreement to guide global action on nature through to 2030. Representatives from 188 governments have been gathered in Montreal for the past two weeks for the important summit.
Chaired by China and hosted by Canada, COP 15 resulted in the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) on the last day of negotiations. The GBF aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights. The plan includes concrete measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. It also contains proposals to increase finance to developing countries – a major sticking point during talks.
The stakes could not be higher: the planet is experiencing a dangerous decline in nature as a result of 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 GBF consists of four overarching global goals to protect nature, including:
– halting human-induced extinction of threatened species and reducing the rate of extinction of all species tenfold by 2050;
– sustainable use and management of biodiversity to ensure that nature’s contributions to people are valued, maintained and enhanced;
– fair sharing of the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources;
– adequate means of implementing the GBF be accessible to all Parties, particularly Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
We can only hope this will be something all will follow, and do all they can to fulfil.
About COP15
Healthy, biodiverse ecosystems sustain life on Earth. Despite the value nature provides, it is deteriorating worldwide – a decline projected to worsen under business-as-usual scenarios. From December 7-19, the world will gather for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal to strike a landmark agreement to guide global actions on biodiversity through 2030. The framework will need to lay out an ambitious plan that implements broad-based action across sectors addressing the key drivers of nature loss and ensure that by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.
Read the whole article here: https://www.unep.org/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15