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 are looking to finalize an agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by 2030, as the COP15 talks enter their final official day.
The draft agreement presented by China on Sunday includes a target of protecting 30 per cent of the world’s land, water and marine areas by 2030, as well as the mobilization of hundreds of billions of dollars to finance the pledge.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said he expects a deal to be reached today, even as negotiators spent most of the last day debating the wording of the agreement and pushing for final changes.
He said the text could be a landmark moment for nature, comparable to the Paris accord on climate change reached in 2015.
The draft of the text 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.
It also proposes to have 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, 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.
It’s the same issue that prompted dozens of countries to briefly walk out of talks on Wednesday, over what they said was an insufficient commitment by rich countries to help finance conservation efforts that will fall in large part to nature-rich developing nations to carry out.
However, Guilbeault highlighted the progress that had been made in the past weeks in Montreal.
“Six months ago, who would have thought that we would have 30 by 30 in the text?” he said, referring to the 30 per cent goal.
“Who thought we’d have a goal for restoration? All of these things we’ve gained in the last few weeks.”
The final draft came 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.
Other targets in the draft agreement include reducing the impacts of pollution and invasive species and ensuring businesses monitor and disclose the effect of their activities on biodiversity.
Representatives of environment and civil society groups praised the text’s conservation and finance goals, but said it fell short in other areas.
Marco Lambertini of the World Wildlife Fund said Sunday that he welcomed the 30 per cent conservation target.
He said the US$20 to $30 billion annually for financial aid to developing countries would roughly triple what is currently given.
However, he criticized a lack of measurable targets when it comes to stopping extinctions, and described the language in the text on the subject as weaker than previous agreements.
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. 19, 2022.
