Negotiations could not be more difficult between the 195 States gathered for six days in Nairobi within the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Due to Covid, the 2020 COP15 scheduled for China had been cancelled. Since then, the countries have met in March in Geneva, then since Tuesday in Kenya in order to prepare the COP15 organized this time in December in Canada. An ambitious agreement is expected to best protect nature and its resources by 2050.
This is the fourth meeting to prepare a global framework aimed at better protecting nature and its resources by 2050. First objectives for 2030, protect 30% of land and seas. The text should serve as a basis for the next COP on biodiversity to be held in December in Montreal. More than 40,000 animal and plant species are threatened with extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Negotiations ended on Sunday evening.
The disappointment of NGOs
And despite six days of tough negotiations, progress still seems minimal. Brian O’Donnell, director of Campaign for Nature, told AFP that ” most of the time had been spent in technical bickering, leaving major decisions unresolved “. Negotiators worked hard for six days to try to move forward on the draft text. But many observers point to the remaining work. ” For us it is a disappointment. Progress is very limited. Overall, the text is not at all ready to be adopted, already in its form, and even less in its content because it is not at all ambitious at this stage », Laments Arnaud Gilles, in charge of environmental diplomacy within the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF France).
We have this urgency linked to the collapse of biodiversity at full speed. In our 2020 Living Planet report, we showed that the population of vertebrates fell by 68% between 1970 and 2016. So the urgency is there. This week of negotiations had opened with an impetus that we had not known for a long time insofar as the dates of the COP15 which should see the adoption of this global agreement on biodiversity had been confirmed for the end of the year. 2022 in Montreal. We could hope in this respect that things would speed up a little in Nairobi. It has to be said today, after six days of negotiations, that this is not really the case and that the negotiations have rather stalled, despite the hopes given by all the delegations on the spot and the time which has been devoted to each article of the text. A big sticking point is the issue of financing biodiversity, which crystallizes a lot of tension. And which above all conditions, in the minds of certain States, progress on other very concrete subjects such as the restoration of ecosystems, the conservation of ecosystems.
Arnaud Gilles: “the issue of financing biodiversity crystallizes a lot of tension”
Many parts of the text are still subject to disagreement. While Nairobi was intended to bring the points of view closer and to purify the document, delegations introduced new elements. A North-South divide has also emerged between the countries.
Certain subjects are particularly debated, such as agriculture. States oppose around the reduction of pesticides, the over-use of fertilizers, the need to produce more, etc.
Another source of tension: finances. Several countries including Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Cameroon or Egypt have renewed a request that rich countries provide 100 billion dollars per year until 2030 to developing countries to preserve biodiversity.
“Changing Mindset”
Experts also point to dysfunctions: China, which does not act as facilitators enough, Brazil and Argentina accused of defending agro-industry too much, rich countries which refuse to put their hands in their pockets or even the structural weakness of the summit with delegates from the Ministries of the Environment, while the subjects also concern agriculture, finance, industry, etc.
Basile Van Havre, co-president of the negotiations, defends all the same some advances in the drafting of the proposals: “ In terms of tangible results, we have two targets that are final, in full text. It’s not huge. On the other hand, what must be appreciated is that for all the other targets, a great deal of progress has been made. It’s clear, we’re far from finished and we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’ve done a lot of clearing work. So we are happy. »
On Friday, Francis Ogwal, another co-chair, had put the pressure on by calling for ” really change your mindset in these negotiations because at the current rate, there will be no text for COP15 “.
The participants planned to meet for a final session of negotiations, just before COP15 in December. More informal sessions will take place in the meantime, in smaller groups. To try to arrive in Montreal with as few differences as possible.