AFP, published Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 09:03
Countries around the world signed a historic agreement in Montreal on Monday to try to stop the destruction of biodiversity and its essential resources for humanity.
After four years of difficult negotiations, ten days and a night of diplomatic marathons, more than 190 countries have reached an agreement under the auspices of China, the President of COP15.
This “peace with nature”, also known as the “Kunming-Montreal Agreement”, aims to protect land, oceans and species from pollution, degradation and the climate crisis.
Countries have agreed on a roadmap that specifically aims to protect 30% of the planet by 2030 and increase annual aid to biodiversity in developing countries to $30 billion.
“The deal was accepted,” China’s COP15 President Huang Runqiu said before a late-night plenary session, before dropping his gavel to loud applause from tired-looking delegates.
“Together we have taken a historic step,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s environment minister, who had to host the summit after China gave up on its “zero Covid” policy. .
The establishment of protected areas on over 30% of the world, the most famous of the 23 measures adopted, is presented as the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris target of limiting global warming to +1.5°C. To date, 17% of the land and 8% of the seas are protected.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the “historic result” of this agreement on Monday, which “completes” the Paris climate agreement.
The world now has “two fields of action to move towards a sustainable economy by 2050,” she added.
– “Peace Pact” –
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the fact that “we are finally beginning to make a peace pact with nature”.
Washington, which intervened in the negotiations even without being a member of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, described the agreement as a “turning point”.
The text is also being hailed for its guarantees to indigenous peoples, custodians of 80% of the planet’s remaining biodiversity, for their goal of restoring 30% of degraded soils and halving the risk associated with pesticides.
And in a bid to solve the ever-burning financial problem between North and South, the accord calls for reaching “at least $20 billion” in annual international aid for biodiversity by 2025 and “at least $30 billion by 2030.” .
“Most people say it’s better than we expected on both sides, both rich and developing countries. That’s the mark of a good text,” Lee White, Gabon’s environment minister, told AFP.
“Moose, sea turtles, parrots, rhinos and rare ferns are among the millions of species whose future prospects will be greatly improved by this agreement,” added Brian O’Donnell of the NGO Campaign for Nature.
This text is “a significant step forward,” “but it will not be enough,” Bert Wander of the NGO Avaaz told AFP.
“Governments should listen to what the science says and rapidly ramp up their ambitions to protect half the world by 2030,” he added.
– Funding at the heart of the debates –
Scientists warn that time is of the essence. 75% of the world’s ecosystems are being altered by human activities, more than a million species are threatened with extinction and the world’s prosperity is at stake: more than half of the world’s GDP depends on nature and its services.
Especially since the previous ten-year plan, signed in Japan in 2010, achieved almost none of its goals, particularly due to the lack of real enforcement mechanisms.
But discussions almost stumbled over the financial issue, which remained the focus of debates until the plenary adoption session, which finally took place overnight from Sunday to Monday, after hours of debate were not enough to resolve the DRC’s objections.
In exchange for the costly ecological efforts required, many countries in the South have asked rich countries for $100 billion a year, 7 to 10 times the current international aid for biodiversity.
Alongside subsidies, countries in the South have also pushed hard for the creation of a global biodiversity fund, like the one received in November, to help them deal with climate damage.
On this point, China has reached a compromise: to set up a department for biodiversity within the Global Environment Facility (GEF) from 2023.