Objective: to halt the decline in biodiversity by 2030. COP15 opens this Wednesday in Montreal, Canada. With this sad observation, points The cross, ” by dint of protecting ourselves from nature, we have ignored it; we have come to exploit it; and by destroying it, we destroy ourselves. The last two centuries have been marked by a change of scale. The damage to the environment is such that we are experiencing what scientists consider to be the 6th extinction. Recently, the WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, estimated that 70% of wildlife had disappeared for fifty years. It is therefore an obligation of result that weighs on COP15, exclaims The cross. The organizers have set themselves an ambitious but not unattainable objective: to obtain the protection of 30% of the land and seas. These places should be left to themselves, limiting human intervention. Encouraging experiments have been conducted for several years in Europe. It is not a question, in these zones returned to nature, of hunting the human being but of better articulating his presence with the wild world. The interdependence is such that we have little choice, concludes The cross. (…) It is the duty but also the interest of man to live together. Because, in the end, nature always ends up taking back its rights. »
After us the deluge !
Indeed, adds Release : “ the day when lands and waters are too polluted or plundered to produce the slightest living being, we will die. And yet, sighs the newspaper, man continues stubbornly to degrade nature. Proof of this indifference to the coming tragedy, we hear much less about COP15 than about the risk of power cuts this winter or the World Cup in Qatar. Certainly, recognize Liberation, these last two subjects are of the order of immediate concern or pleasure, whereas the loss of biodiversity is a long-term affair. And that is the problem, exclaims the newspaper : men are more likely to favor the short than the long term. ‘After us, the deluge’, this maxim is as old as the world and has brought us to where we are. Nevertheless, there are still some grounds for hope, temperate Release. Awareness of the damage we cause has never been greater, it is spreading everywhere, even at the top of companies. And above all, confinement has proven it to us, biodiversity is resilient: if we give it peace, it heals. There is therefore still time to act, but quickly. Civic awareness will remain powerless if it is not accompanied by a strong political awareness. And the necessary funding. »
Silent China…
The world recalls for its part that it is China which was to host this COP15. ” Postponed many times, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Beijing’s health policy, it was finally moved from Kunming in China to Montreal. »
China which has so far totally failed in its obligations as President of this COP “, point The world. In effect, ” extremely silent on its own ambitions, it neither organized nor facilitated exchanges between parties. On the contrary, by not inviting heads of state and government to Montreal – but only environment ministers – despite repeated requests from multiple actors, Beijing is depriving this event of political mobilization at the highest level. . In the middle of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, while the COP15 suffers from a lack of real political leadership, the presence of the highest leaders on the planet – there were more than a hundred for the COP27 for the climate, in Egypt – would have could make a real difference. »
Indeed, explains a British expert, still in The world, “ it is crucial that the international community sends a political signal to give direction, but also a timetable and details on the implementation (of the directives of this COP15). As long as there is no orchestra conductor, the economic players will not move forward at the right pace. »