The project of China, president of COP15, was eagerly awaited. The country presented this Sunday in Montreal a compromise text to try to seal the “pact of peace with nature” which the planet sorely needs. On the basis of this text, the countries must approve by Monday the “Kunming-Montreal agreement”, a crucial roadmap to stop the destruction of nature and its resources essential to humanity by the end. of the decade.
The objective of protecting 30% of the planet’s land and seas by 2030, announced as the key point of these negotiations, is included in the draft agreement. Guarantees for indigenous peoples, guardians of 80% of the remaining biodiversity on Earth, are also present in the text, other issues of the summit.
In an attempt to resolve the ever-burning financial issue between North and South, China proposes reaching “at least $20 billion” in annual international aid for biodiversity by 2025 and “at least $30 billion here 2030”. In exchange for their efforts, the less developed countries claim from the rich countries 100 billion dollars a year. That is at least ten times the current international aid for biodiversity.
A “sustainable” use of resources in protected areas
The countries of the South are also strongly pushing for the creation of a new separate global fund dedicated to biodiversity, like the one obtained in November at COP27 in Egypt to help them deal with climate damage.
On this point, China is proposing a compromise: to establish a branch dedicated to biodiversity within the current Global Environment Facility (GEF) from 2023, the current functioning of which is considered deficient by the least developed countries. The resolution of the financial controversy between North and South calls for the adoption of an ambitious pact for nature, ardently demanded by defenders of the environment and indigenous peoples.
In the draft agreement, China retains the proposal to place at least 30% of the land and seas under a minimum level of protection, while admitting within the protected areas a “sustainable” use of resources. This objective, a minimum for scientists who argue for at least 50% protection of the planet, has been presented as the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. To date, 17% of the land and 8% of the seas are protected.
A new plenary session is scheduled for Sunday evening, after a day that will again be marked by intense negotiations behind closed doors.
“The biggest commitment in history”
By proposing to protect 30% of the planet, humanity would be making “the largest commitment in history to the conservation of oceans and land”, welcomed Brian O’Donnell, director of the NGO Campaign naturally. “Conservation on this scale gives nature a chance. If approved, the outlook for leopards, butterflies, sea turtles, forests and populations will improve markedly,” he adds.
However, Sue Lieberman, from the NGO WCS, notes that “some aspects are not ambitious enough and focus on 2050, which is too far in the future”. Because scientists are formal, time is running out. 75% of the world’s ecosystems are altered by human activity, more than a million species are threatened with extinction and the world’s prosperity is at stake: more than half of the world’s GDP depends on nature and its services.