MONTREAL The UN Nature Conference in Montreal has reached an agreement in the negotiations, the purpose of which is to draw up international goals for stopping the loss of nature.
The meeting stretched late into the night local time, especially with the negotiations on financing. In the end, China, the country presiding over the meeting, was ready to bring an agreement to the table, which was accepted by the parties.
– After four years of work, we have reached the end of our journey. We have a package in our hands that can guide us all to stop and reverse the loss of nature, China’s environment minister Huang Runqiu started the closing meeting.
The meeting largely reached the goals and objectives that were previously assessed as the most important. There are four key long-term goals in the approved agreement, in summary the protection of diversity, sustainable use, fair distribution of genetic resources and financial issues.
Developing countries, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo, hoped during the negotiations that wealthy countries would have increased their biodiversity funding to developing countries to as much as 100 billion US dollars per year.
In the new goals, wealthy countries will increase their annual funding to US$20 billion by 2025 and raise the amount to US$30 billion by 2030.
Congo showed reluctance about the funding in the final negotiations, but after a short discussion, the chairman hammered out the agreement to applause.
However, the decision was also met with criticism and ambiguity. Among African countries, Cameroon accused China of a “forced handshake” in adopting the framework. Uganda also presented its views on the fallacy of the consensus.
However, the secretariat stated that no official objection was made to the decision and considered the consensus to be in accordance with the rules.
This is how biodiversity protection was decided
Chairman of the Finnish Nature Panel Janne Kotiaho was there in Montreal to follow the meeting. Kotiaho is satisfied that the needs of the species are taken into account in the agreement.
According to Kotiaho, the framework fulfills the most important issues in ecology: there must be surface area for the species through protection and the area must be of sufficiently good quality through restoration.
The member states of the agreement decided on a 30 percent conservation goal in land and sea areas by 2030.
The recording eventually became quite extensive, and the goal also took into account the effectiveness of protection and the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. The aforementioned were also included in many other entries, as the representatives of the indigenous peoples had hoped.
In addition to protection, the goals highlight the need for restoration. The parties undertake to ensure that at least 30 percent of the world’s land and sea areas are under restoration in 2030.
– Yes, it was a positive surprise. This now looks like China really wanted to make an ambitious nature agreement, Kotiaho states.
The fight against harmful alien species was also put into numbers. The introduction of alien species and their establishment in ecosystems is planned to be halved by 2030.
One of the questions that was considered to be a point of contention in the negotiations in advance was related to the reduction of pollution. In the final recording, not all sources of pollution were mentioned separately, but the parties agreed to limit pollution to a sustainable level and to halve the environmental risks brought by insecticides.
In addition to these, the approved framework also ensures, for example, urgent measures to stop human-caused extinctions.
“We got a mission similar to the Paris Agreement”
The framework ensures that the management and use of wild species is at a sustainable level. For example, the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors were named in the goals.
The parties want to bring biodiversity into an even stronger part of urban planning, for example by increasing green areas and improving their accessibility.
One of the goals hoped for by environmental organizations was related to halving the ecological footprint. This was not included in the agreement, but the goals do mention the need to reduce overconsumption and the global footprint of consumption by 2030, and to halve the world’s food waste.
Program director of WWF Finland Anne Tarvainen is, however, satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations.
– I am particularly pleased that we received a mission that is similar to the 1.5 degrees of the Paris Agreement. We want to stop the loss of nature and start revitalization. We have concrete and ambitious goals.
Although the records on reducing overspending completely satisfied the organizations, Tarvainen was nevertheless happy with the progress.
– However, the ecological footprint of consumption has been mentioned and the recording is significantly stronger than in the previous goals.
The questions about the financing were pressing
Before the meeting, the funding gap was estimated at around 700 billion dollars a year. About 500 billion will be covered by the dismantling of support policies harmful to nature, starting with the most harmful supports.
The remaining 200 billion will be gathered from different sources, such as increasing development cooperation money. The package also highlights, for example, redirecting national money flows and encouraging the private sector to invest.
Friction in the negotiations was caused by the idea of establishing a new fund. The parties negotiated the details of the fund at length with China, the country that chairs the meeting, before publishing the final paper. The questions were related to, for example, whether the new fund would come under the World Environment Fund.
You can discuss the topic on 20.12. until 11 p.m.