Amel Ibrahem, a delegate from Sudan, examines her first ever snowman which she built during a break from the COP 15 summit on biodiversity, in Montreal, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter McCabe
MONTREAL – China on Sunday presented the proposed text of a new global agreement that would commit to protecting at least 30 per cent of land, water and marine areas by 2030 as a UN biodiversity meeting in Montreal entered its penultimate official day.
Chinese Environment Minister Huang Runqiu released the draft of the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework at the COP15 biodiversity convention.
The draft of the framework proposes that 30 per cent of ” terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services” be effectively conserved by 2030.
That should include recognition of Indigenous territories when applicable, it adds.
The proposed agreement also includes a commitment to mobilize at least US $200 Billion per year from both public and private sources to finance nature, and to reduce subsidies that are harmful to nature by at least $500 Billion by 2030.
The final draft comes after nearly two weeks of negotiations among 196 countries who are part of the UN biodiversity convention. They are seeking a new deal to halt the human destruction of nature and to begin restoring what has already been lost.
The United Nations says three-quarters of the world’s land has been altered by human activities and one million species face extinction this century as a result.
Heading in to the final hours of talks, something of a staring contest had broken out between developed and developing nations over the best way to flow new financing for conservation efforts.
The new draft agreement proposes to have developed countries commit to providing developing countries at least US$20 billion per year by 2025, and $30 billion per year by 2030.
Another draft on the issue of resource mobilization proposes the creation of a dedicated global biodiversity fund, which is a key demand of developing nations and one that some developed nations have been resisting.
But the draft suggests the fund could be a dedicated entity within the existing Global Environment Fund preferred by Europe and G7 countries, including Canada.
Other targets in the draft agreement include reducing the impacts of pollution and invasive species and ensuring businesses monitor and disclose the affect of their activities on biodiversity.
Representatives of environment and civil society groups praised the text’s preservation and finance goals, but said it fell short in other areas.
Brian O’Donnell, the director of Campaign for Nature, said the text would be the “world’s largest commitment to biodiversity conservation” if adopted as written.
He particularly praised the text’s inclusion of Indigenous rights, which he said could herald “the start of a new era of conservation in which Indigenous people’s rights and leadership are included.”
However, he said he’s worried about language on “sustainable use” in protected areas, which could open the door to some development.
Eddy Pérez of Climate Action Network Canada described the accord as an “ambitious” one that puts pressure on developing nations when it comes to finance.
“China is telling the world, ‘if we want more ambition on biodiversity action at the international level, we also need more resources,'” he said in an interview.
He said the finance package sets the bar “really high, to levels that developed countries were not expecting,” even if the proposed amount of aid still falls below what some developing nations have been asking for.
But he noted the text doesn’t include a measurable goal on reducing human-caused species extinctions by 2030.
It also mentions reducing the “overall risk” from pesticides and hazardous chemicals by half by 2030 but makes no commitment to reduce their use, he noted.
A closed-door plenary with environment ministers or their designated negotiators will take place early Sunday afternoon, where Huang will seek approval for what he hopes will become the final text.
The final adoption of the agreement could come as soon as Sunday night.
Li Shuo, a global policy advisor for Greenpeace China, says the agreement appears to be an attempt to balance ambitious conservation targets with the need of the global south for help in financing them.
However, he said the agreement is a “pretty challenging package to land” due to the number of targets and the disagreements between countries on many issues.
China is officially the president of COP15 and as such oversees the negotiations. But the meeting itself was moved to Canada because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in China.
The new agreement would be titled the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework after the host cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2022.
