In 2010, the UN countries wanted to reverse the loss of nature by 2020. The goal was not achieved and the clock is ticking even harder as the contracting parties negotiate new ways in Canada.
Johannes Blom,
Jenni Frilander
The countries of the world will gather starting today At the UN Nature Conference (you will switch to another service) in Canada’s Montreal to negotiate an agreement that could stop the loss of nature.
The main goal of the meeting is huge for our entire planet. We want to turn the impoverishment of nature into enrichment again, by 2030 at the latest.
The clock is ticking even faster than before, because the COP15 meeting of the parties has been postponed due to the corona pandemic from 2020 to today. On the other hand, the destruction of nature has not been postponed or has shown any signs of abating.
A total of 196 UN countries and the European Union are parties to the agreement, but the United States has not ratified the convention concluded in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
However, the United States is a major funder of biodiversity work and will participate in the meeting as an observer party – probably more active than ever, as the meeting will be held on North American soil.
There are now four long-term goals on the table and 22 goals that support the achievement of the goals. The importance of the goals is underlined by the fact that many have compared the Montreal Nature Conference to the Paris Climate Agreement, which turned a new page in international climate policy.
In addition to the biodiversity agreement, the two-week gathering in Montreal also covers multifaceted negotiations on biosafety and the sharing of genetic resources.
Before we review the main expectations of the meeting, you can test your knowledge about nature loss and the themes of the Montreal nature meeting.
The focus is on the goals of protection and restoration
In 2010, the meeting of the parties to the UN Biodiversity Convention in Japan aimed to stop the impoverishment of nature by 2020. The meeting set 20 goals, which were named the Aichi Goals after the location of the meeting.
When the calendars turned to the new decade, the UN’s huge Global Biodiversity Outlook report told the truth: only six goals had been met, even in part, and none completely.
The glimmers of light were mainly provided by progress in the fight against alien species that threaten ecosystems and the growth of the protected area close to the 17 percent goal set in 2010.
It can be thought that a slogan is being sought at the meeting in Montreal, which is starting now, in a way like a counterpart to the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to less than 1.5 degrees. Since it is difficult to put a number on stopping the loss of nature, a similar quantitative goal could be linked to protected areas again.
In the first phase of the meeting of the parties, several countries required that the new conservation goal should be raised internationally to at least 30 percent of land and sea areas by 2030.
In addition to protection, we talk about restoration, restoring the natural environment to its natural state. The global target for this is 30 billion hectares.
Pollution, changes of power and funds
Goal number 7, which is related to pollution, is also important to follow. Harmful emissions, for example plastic, mercury and heavy metals, as well as light and sound pollution, must be reduced to a sustainable level.
The goal is also connected to the difficult issue of plant protection substances, which drives wealthy countries pulling the same rope in many other goals into different camps.
In many ways, nature diplomacy is a balancing act between states’ own interests. On the path to Montreal, there have been occasional threats of dead ends, especially due to the reluctance of Brazil and India. The change of power in Brazil and the lofty promises of the country’s return to nature diplomacy bring their own spice to the party meeting that is starting now.
Like the just ended climate meeting in Egypt, money and funds are also being talked about in Montreal. Developing countries demand sufficient funding to combat nature loss, but the amount and instruments of funding will still be heavily negotiated.
One of the ways to close the 700 billion dollar funding gap is to reduce subsidies that are harmful to nature. They want to gradually reduce these subsidies by at least 500 billion US dollars per year.
Listen to the Amazing nature podcast from Areena! The podcast is part of the “Punainen lista pelastajat” ensemble, which aims to raise awareness of endangered species in Finnish nature. All the species in the episodes of the podcast are on the Red List of endangered species.