Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada speaks to reporters at the COP15 the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Sunday, December 18, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL – Negotiators in Montreal have finalized an agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by 2030, as the COP15 talks enter their final official day.
An announcement issued early Monday morning says the gathering nations at the biodiversity summit have agreed to four goals and 23 targets.
The goals include protecting 30 per cent of the world’s land, water and marine areas by 2030, as well as the mobilization, by 2030, of at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources, both public and private.
There is also a pledge to reduce subsidies deemed harmful to nature by at least $500 Billion by 2030, while having developed countries commit to providing developing countries with at least US$20 billion per year by 2025, and $30 billion per year by 2030.
As the conference neared its final official day, Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister, Steven Guilbeault said some countries were still asking for the inclusion of more ambitious numerical targets, while others in the global south continued to push for more funding.
The new agreement is titled the Kunming-Montreal Global biodiversity framework after the official host cities in China and Canada.
The final agreement came after nearly two weeks of negotiations among 196 countries who are part of the UN biodiversity convention. They were 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.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2022.
