NEW DELHI: After years of fraught negotiations, around 190 countries on Monday adopted a landmark agreement at the United Nations Biodiversity conference in Montreal, Canada, to reverse decades of environmental destruction.
The deal is being compared by many to the historic 2015 Paris Agreement, which decided to limit global warming to 1.50C. Dubbed as a peace pact with Nature, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity framework provides a global roadmap for the conservation, protection, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems for the next decade.
The framework also aims to catalyse, enable and galvanise urgent and transformative action by governments, subnational and local governments with the involvement of society to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
The deal sets four goals and 23 targets that are to be achieved by 2030. The most significant goal, called 30 by 30, is a commitment to protect 30% of land and water by 2030. The signatories will have to ensure that by 2030 at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and properly managed.
The 23 targets include cutting environmentally destructive farming subsidies, reducing the risk from pesticides, and tackling invasive species. India was against setting a numerical global target for pesticide reduction and eliminating farm subsidies.
Among the most contentious issues was the demand for a finance package to support conservation, particularly in developing nations. The final deal called for raising the total biodiversity-related global financial resources to $200 billion by 2030 from a range of sources.
One of the targets is to encourage people to make sustainable consumption choices, which will ultimately reduce the global footprint of consumption in an equitable manner, including by halving global food waste.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the world is finally starting to forge a peace pact with nature. However, many felt the summit could have achieved more. For example, the deal lacks a numerical target to reduce the unsustainable footprint of production and consumption, they said.
Why it is such a big deal
30 by 30 goal
A pledge to protect 30% of the world’s land and seas by 2030. At present, only about 17% of land and 7% of oceans are protected. Setting a sea target was opposed by some countries but it managed to make it into the final text
Indigenous rights
Previous efforts to safeguard land resulted in what was called green colonialism - uprooting or marginalising Indigenous communities. The COP15 deal is watertight on safeguarding their right to remain, stewards of land they use and ensuring they are not subject to mass evictions,
Finance
Rich countries to provide at least US$20 billion per year by 2025, and ... at least US$30 billion per year by 2030. Works out to double and then triple the current international aid for biodiversity
Funding mechanism
A trust fund within an existing financial mechanism called the Global Environment Facility, will be created for now
U.S. funds
Deal refers to funding from “developed countries, and from countries that voluntarily assume obligations of developed country parties.” Meant to involve the US, which is not part of the Convention on Biological Diversity but supports its goals