Montreal: Most of the key issues related to protecting the world's environment by 2030 and tens of billions of dollars to developing countries to support those efforts are still not resolved by negotiators at the UN Biodiversity Conference on Saturday.
Delegates were scrambling to agree on language in a framework that calls for protecting 30% of all land and marine areas by 2030, or "30 by 30," the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP15 As in, it's supposed to end in Montreal on Monday. Globally, 10% of marine and 17% of terrestrial areas are currently under protection.
They also have to decide how much money will be allocated to projects that protect and restore natural areas. By 2030, the draft framework mandates that a $700 billion funding gap be closed.
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However, tens of billions of dollars in new funding are also being called for, which will flow from rich countries to poor countries. Much of this will come from reforms in subsidies to the agriculture, fisheries and energy sectors.
“Since the start of the conversation, we have seen that some countries are systematically reducing their ambition. The world needs a “clear conservation goal” that “points the way towards giving the world a nature-positive future”. sets on trajectory," according to WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini.
Steven Guilbeault, Canada's minister for the environment and climate change, expressed more hope. Guilbeault told The Associated Press on Saturday morning that "people are willing to talk" because he heard "some people talk about red lines." People are open to bargaining.
Guilbeault said, “I have heard great support for the ambition from all corners of the world. Everyone wants to leave this meeting with a bold agreement.
Nearly 190 ministers and government representatives agree that conservation of biodiversity should be a top priority; Many compare these efforts to the climate talks that ended last month in Egypt.
A 2019 estimate warned that one million plant and animal species face extinction within decades as a result of climate change, habitat loss, pollution and development – a rate of loss 1,000 times higher than expected.
According to the report, one in five of the 8 billion people on the planet rely on the 50,000 wild species that humans regularly use for food and income.
But they are having trouble deciding how that protection will be funded and what it will look like. One of the most contentious issues has been financing, with representatives of 70 African, South American and Asian countries walking out of the talks on Wednesday.
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Following the walkout, the group demanded that a new funding mechanism for biodiversity be set up and that developed countries grant a total of $100 billion to developing countries by 2030, in a statement issued by Brazil on their behalf.
The group said in a joint statement that "only a framework with clear goals and an architecture for resource mobilization and access can be considered an aspirational framework."
Donor countries, which included the European Union and 13 other nations, responded on Friday by pledging to increase funding for biodiversity. He said that between 2010 and 2015, his spending on biodiversity had doubled, and since then he has pledged several billion more dollars to the Biodiversity Fund.
The UK's Minister for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment, Zac Goldsmith, acknowledged that popular environmental protection initiatives such as the 30 by 30 target cannot be the only priority.
He said the 30-by-30 target is the main objective, but it cannot be achieved without reaching agreement on a wide range of other issues. "Without funding, we can't have 30-by-30.
We won't have it until other nations break the link between agricultural productivity and deforestation and land degradation, as Costa Rica has done. And if we don't address subsidies, we won't be able to do any of these things.
Even the safety targets are still a matter of controversy. While many nations agree that achieving 30 percent is a noble goal, some are attempting to soften the language to allow, among other things, sustainable activities in areas where conservationists worry they will Can lead to destructive logging and mining. Others want a language that addresses how to better control the remaining 70% of the world that will not be secure.
Other points of contention concern how to fairly distribute the advantages of genetic resources and how to include Indigenous group rights in any agreement.
Some Native American organisations desire direct funding access as well as a say in the creation of protected areas that have an effect on Native Americans.
According to Atossa Soltani, director of global strategy for the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative, an alliance of 30 Indigenous nations in Ecuador and Peru working to permanently protect 86 million acres of rainforest.
"Any protected areas that affect Indigenous peoples need to have the free prior informed consent of Indigenous peoples. Otherwise, there will be the same old patterns of Indigenous peoples being displaced by protected areas."
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The inclusion of language that builds a stronger system to report and verify the progress nations make, similar to the Paris Agreement on climate change, presents another challenge. Many criticise the 2010 biodiversity framework, which only partially achieved six of the 20 targets by the 2020 deadline.
"Observing what other parties are doing is crucial for parties. It's critical that the civil society and individuals like you keep tabs on our development—or, regrettably, lack thereof, as the case may be. "It's a crucial tool to help keep us accountable. if it has a positive climate impact. We ought to include nature in it as well.