Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault rises during question period, in Ottawa, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
MONTREAL – Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says progress at an international meeting on saving the planet’s biodiversity isn’t proceeding as fast as he would like.
But Guilbeault, a veteran of almost two dozen such high-level environmental conferences, says he’s pressing his colleagues from around the world to tell their negotiators to get down to business.
Environment ministers from other countries start arriving at the COP15 conference in Montreal next week.
Guilbeault says even if negotiators aren’t able to reach as much consensus as he would like this week, he’s determined to get the ministers to sit down and reach an agreement.
He says one of Canada’s main goals has already been achieved – delegates have agreed that Indigenous people must be fully consulted on conservation moves and play a role in how those decisions are made.
More than 190 countries are at the conference, which runs until Dec. 19.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.
