12 October
Why a Few Words in Montreal are Key to Ending Deforestation
By preventing commodities linked to deforestation and habitat destruction from entering commercial supply chains, we can disable one of the key drivers of nature loss.
Mandating deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains through an international convention would demonstrate true leadership, provide clarity, and level the playing field for private sector actions.
We need world leaders, businesses, finance institutions, and others who have made pledges on forests to turn their words into action.
By Hermine Kleymann, Head, Policy, WWF Forest Practice, and Jean-François Timmers, WWF Policy and Advocacy Manager, Deforestation and Conversion-Free Supply Chains
In December, all eyes will be on Montreal, Canada, which hosts the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 15). At the conference, governments will be meeting to agree a post-2020 global biodiversity framework – nothing less than a plan to halt and reverse the loss of nature. Like the Paris Agreement on climate change, the new framework is expected to be legally binding in almost every country in the world
10 October
US appoints special envoy to champion nature in time for Montreal summit
Monica Medina will be responsible for biodiversity and water resources, announces state department ahead of Cop15
The United States has created a new diplomatic role to show the country’s commitment to tackling the biodiversity crisis ahead of Cop15 in Montreal, Canada, where the next decade of nature targets will be drawn up.
(The Guardian) Monica Medina, a former military officer who started her governmental career in 1989 as senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has been named special envoy for biodiversity and water resources.
Historically, the country has not been a supporter of the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) treaty. The US is the only UN member state not to ratify the 1992 Rio Declaration, citing concerns ranging from financial commitments to who would own the rights to genetic discoveries in forest reserves. But the creation of the new role for nature shows the US is “very much committed to the aims of CBD negotiations”, said Medina.
“It’s a priority for our administration,” she said. “We use nature for free essentially, but it’s not free. We know it’s not free. We know there are costs to the way that we’ve been extracting from nature. And now we need to find a way to make sure we account for that today and in the future.”
A state department spokesman said the new role signalled “the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to resolving the world’s intertwined biodiversity and water crises”.
9 October
Canada, host of the UN biodiversity summit, is struggling to meet its own targets
The land of the great outdoors isn’t doing so great at protecting its great outdoors
It was the spring of 2014, … then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper … announced at a May news conference in New Maryland, N.B., that by 2020 Canada would protect 17 per cent of its land and inland waters, and 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas. At the time, 10.5 per cent of land and only one per cent of marine area was protected.
Fast forward to 2022, federal governments have changed and those pre-pandemic days may feel like a distant memory, but one thing that remains constant is that Canada continues to struggle to meet its own biodiversity goals.
[Biodiversity]’s declining at unprecedented rates globally, which threatens not only wildlife and natural spaces, but also human food security and genetic resources necessary for medicine and science.
When it comes to protecting the land and water that house those natural assets, the latest data show Canada is coming up short.
6 October
Cop15: ‘World leaders might have to invite themselves’ to summit
In its role as president, China has sent invitations only to ministers and NGO heads, raising fears it is downplaying the crucial talks
In December, governments will finalise a UN agreement to halt the destruction of the natural world at a summit organised by China but hosted in Canada. Because of Beijing’s zero-Covid policy and after several delays, Cop15 was moved to Montreal, the seat of the UN convention on biological diversity. It was meant to take place in Kunming, Yunnan province, in 2020.
The move has meant that China and Canada, who have a tense diplomatic relationship, must work together to organise the conference with the UN. In late September, the Chinese government sent out invitations to Cop15 in its role as president of the meeting, but addressed them only to ministers and NGO heads.
This raises the prospect of no world leaders attending the talks, where targets on biodiversity for the next decade will be created.
Xi, the Chinese president, is not expected to be at the summit and there are fears that organisers are trying to downplay the importance of Cop15 to avoid highlighting his lack of attendance. Several world leaders are understood to have privately expressed a desire to attend.
28 September
The Secret Negotiator: Cause for optimism at Cop15 – but could Bolsonaro scupper the deal for nature?
(The Guardian) There are many reasons to suggest a deal to save the natural world is possible in Montreal, if division can be overcome and the Brazilian president doesn’t cause problems
So far, negotiations have been slow and painful. … In Geneva and Nairobi earlier this year, the size and complexity of 20 or so targets on how humanity will halt the destruction of the natural world grew and grew.
Much of the draft agreement is in brackets, reflecting disagreement in the UN process as countries have added suggestion upon suggestion on how the final set of targets should look.
One country that does worry me is Brazil. …as the presidential elections approach, Jair Bolsonaro could have a major impact on the agreement we reach at Cop15. If Bolsonaro wins, Brazil may curtail an ambitious final text. If his main rival, the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, wins – and Bolsonaro accepts it – he could still instruct his negotiating team to cause problems, if only to embarrass his successor.
30 August
What is Cop15 and why does it matter for all life on Earth?
Once-in-a-decade plans to protect the natural world and halt its destruction will be decided in Canada in December
It is 100 days until Cop15 – and the omens are good for a global plan to protect nature | John Vidal
(The Guardian) With only a few short months until Cop15 in Montreal, governments are gearing up to create targets on biodiversity for the next decade. The world has so far failed to meet any UN targets on halting the loss of nature, yet awareness of the challenge is greater than ever. Here we examine why this UN meeting matters and how it could herald meaningful action on nature loss.
What is Cop15?
Nature is in crisis and for the past three decades governments have been meeting to ensure the survival of the species and ecosystems that underpin human civilisation.
Every 10 years, governments agree new targets on protecting biodiversity, which they aim to meet by the end of the decade. The last round of targets was agreed at Cop10 in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, when governments pledged to halve the loss of natural habitats and expand nature reserves to 17% of the world’s land area by 2020, among other targets. They failed on every count.
12 August
Countdown to COP15: Landmark Leaders’ Event for a Nature Positive World
Securing an agreement to save our life support systems
(Leaders Pledge) The ambition and announcements will demonstrate the highest level of commitment from leaders to secure an ambitious global biodiversity framework (GBF) at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to take place in December 2022 in Montreal under the China Presidency and ensure its immediate, inclusive and effective implementation
28 June
Cop15: lack of political leadership leaves crucial nature summit ‘in peril’, warn NGOs
Nairobi biodiversity talks end in stalemate, prompting open letter to world leaders calling for action before Montreal conference
(The Guardian) UN biodiversity negotiations have reached crisis point due to a lack of engagement from governments, leading NGOs have warned, three years after experts revealed that Earth’s life-support systems are collapsing.
Last week, countries met in Nairobi for an extra round of talks on an agreement to halt the human-driven destruction of the natural world, with the final targets set to be agreed at Cop15 in Montreal. Governments have never met a target they have set for themselves on halting the destruction of nature despite scientists warning in 2019 that one million species face extinction, and that nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history.
While world leaders including Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson have underscored the importance of the summit, which only takes place once a decade, the biodiversity negotiations have seen substantial divisions between the global north and south over money, proposals to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, and implementation of any agreement. The Africa group warned it would not sign off the final post-2020 global biodiversity framework unless it includes a target on digital biopiracy.
29 March
COP15: is 2022 the year we save biodiversity? (podcast)
As human activities like agricultural production, mining and pollution continue to drive the so-called sixth mass extinction, government negotiators from around the world are currently meeting in Geneva to try to protect the planet’s biodiversity. At stake is an ambitious Paris-style agreement for nature, the final version of which will be negotiated at the COP15 summit in Kunming, China, in August. Madeleine Finlay speaks to reporter Patrick Greenfield from Geneva about what’s being discussed, how the talks are progressing, and whether time is running out to halt the destruction of life on Earth