HOW COP15 CONTRIBUTES TO BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Milestone Agreement on Biodiversity

On December 19, 2022, a historical international deal crucial for preserving biodiversity was signed in Montreal, Canada. The United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) ended with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). 188 governments agreed to protect 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030. 

The GBF sets four main global goals: halting human-induced species extinction; sustainable use and management of biodiversity; fair sharing of benefits and digital sequence information on genetic resources; ensuring that all the parties have fair access to resources to implement the GBF, particularly least developed countries and small island developing states.

These goals are specified in 23 targets. Among them there are cutting food waste in half and reducing overconsumption and waste generation; reducing to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance; reducing by half the use of nutrients, pesticides and chemicals; preventing the introduction of priority invasive alien species; involving large companies and financial institutions into monitoring and disclosing information about their impact on biodiversity, and others. 

Unprecedented Loss and Aichi Targets

The agreement known as 30x30 came into force at a time of unprecedented high pace of biodiversity loss. According to the Living Planet Index, there has been a 68% decline since 1970, and the UN warns there is a risk of losing 1 mln species by 2100. Except for the threats to ecosystems, biodiversity loss endangers the global economy: more than a half of the world's GDP depends on nature. 

The GBF comes 12 years after the previous agreement on biodiversity protection reached in Aichi, Japan, in 2010. It outlined 20 targets countries aimed to achieve by 2020. However, the world failed to meet them. The next deal should have been signed in 2020, nevertheless, the process was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Challenging Negotiations

COP15 was preceded by 4 years of negotiations under the leadership of China and Canada. Among the major controversial topics was finance: shares of contribution from developed and developing countries. It was agreed that by 2030 US$ 200 bn per year will be mobilised from all sources, including public and private ones. And developed countries would provide financial assistance to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, of US$ 20 bn per year by 2025 and US$ 30 bn per year by 2030.

Another sticking point was protection of Indigenous people's rights. Currently they amount to 5% of the world's population but protect 80% of biodiversity. Several representatives of Indigenous peoples warned during the COP15 talks that the implementation of 30x30 would entail displacement and violation of their rights. The final text reaffirms their protection throughout 23 targets and highlights the importance of including Indigenous people representatives into decision-making processes regarding their territories.

Prospects and COP16

The GBF concluded at COP15 in Montreal has already been named a biodiversity alternative for the Paris agreement. Despite some criticism, the international community has met the results with optimism, pointing that it was the last chance to start acting on biodiversity. 

The countries agreed to pay special attention to monitoring and assessing the progress on meeting the targets. A special framework will be presented at the next meeting, COP16 in Turkey in 2024. This conference should also help to specify some of the targets such as establishing a multilateral fund for sharing benefits between providers and users of digital sequence information on genetic resources.

COP15 has become an important milestone in preserving biodiversity outlining the main goals for this decade. However, to achieve them, even more effort is needed. And such projects as Nature FIRST might be a good example of actions that create real value to implement COP15 and, most importantly, preserve biodiversity.