Modern Diplomacy

April 20, 2022
Big uncertainties hung over when the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity would be held. It had been rescheduled several times because of the pandemic. Now, it is expected to be held in August this year in the Chinese city of Kunming. The goal of COP15 is to create a Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which would outline a roadmap for global action to maintain and protect biodiversity. After the round of preparatory talks in Geneva in April, parties decided to hold the next round of negotiations in Nairobi, from June 21 to 29, 2022, prior to the UN Convention. The meeting in Geneva resulted in the first agreed draft document for a post-2020 framework for nature, including goals, targets, and enabling mechanisms.

But there is still a long and stony road ahead. Despite the consensus on the main goals of the framework, disagreements are mainly regarding how to monitor the progress, finance for developing countries and divergence concerning specifics such as the reduction of nitrogen waste by 2030, among others. Leading policy makers have voiced concerns about the ambition of the GBF. As the EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius said: “At COP15, the international community will seek to agree on an ambitious global biodiversity framework with strong monitoring to measure progress on the ground in reversing nature loss. But we are not there yet, and we need to significantly narrow the gaps between Parties’ positions.”

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Yale Environment 360

April 18, 2022
On the low-lying northern shore of the Indonesian island of Java, the sea has invaded a kilometer inland in places in recent years, engulfing whole communities and vast expanses of rice paddy. But villagers are fighting back against further advances by erecting brushwood barriers in the mud to help the natural regeneration of mangroves. 

This innovative nature-based response to rising sea levels and worsening storms, sponsored by the Indonesian government and the Dutch-based environmental group Wetlands International, could be scaled up across Asia. Within a decade it could be helping at least 10 million people in similar situations to protect and restore their denuded coastlines — all at a fraction of the cost of sea walls, says Jane Madgwick, CEO of Wetlands International. 

But it can do that only if local projects are developed and the financing secured. And so far, she says, progress has been slow. Lives, livelihoods, and coastlines are being lost as a result.

And so it goes.

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Business Standard

April 15, 2022
At the Our Ocean Conference in Palau, the US officially announced to join the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, a group of more than 90 countries, encouraging the adoption of the global goal to protect and conserve at least 30 per cent of the planet -- land and sea -- by 2030, commonly referred to as "30x30."

Scientists have issued repeated warnings that nature is in a state of crisis, threatened by habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change.

The ongoing and rapid loss of natural areas across the world poses a grave threat to the health and security of all living things. However, overwhelming scientific evidence shows that conserving at least 30 per cent of the global land and ocean can not only help curb biodiversity loss and prevent extinctions but also store carbon, help prevent future pandemics, and bolster economic growth.

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UN Environment Programme

April 14, 2022
Healthy, biodiverse ecosystems sustain life on Earth by providing air, water and other essential elements. From forests to farmlands to oceans, the planet’s ecosystems are the basis of resources, services and industries.

Despite the value nature provides, it is being degraded at catastrophic rates. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 75 percent of the Earth’s land and 66 percent of its oceans have been altered by human activity and many essential ecosystem services are eroding. The rate of global change in nature over the past 50 years is unprecedented in human history.

Nature loss has far-reaching consequences. Damaged ecosystems exacerbate climate change by releasing carbon instead of storing it. Rampant development is putting animals and humans in closer contact increasing the risk of diseases like COVID-19 to spread. A recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report found that about 60 percent of human infections are estimated to have an animal origin.

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Campaign For Nature

April 14, 2022
At the Our Ocean Conference in Palau today, the US announced it officially joined the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, a group of more than 90 countries encouraging the adoption of the global goal to protect and conserve at least 30% of the planet— land and sea — by 2030, commonly referred to as “30x30.” 

Scientists have issued repeated warnings that nature is in a state of crisis, threatened by habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change. The ongoing and rapid loss of natural areas across the world poses a grave threat to the health and security of all living things. However, overwhelming scientific evidence shows that conserving at least 30% of our global land and ocean can not only curb biodiversity loss and prevent extinctions but also store carbon, help prevent future pandemics, and bolster economic growth.

The Biden administration has already pledged to conserve 30% of the United States’ land and sea; it is now pushing for the goal to be adopted at the global scale. The announcement follows the Biden administration’s launch yesterday of a $1 billion program—called the America the Beautiful Challenge—to advance its national 30x30 goal. 

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Yale Environment 360

April 12, 2022
The Biden administration has launched a $1 billion program to advance its goal of conserving 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.

The program, called the America the Beautiful Challenge, will serve as a “one-stop shop” for states, tribes, territories, non-governmental organizations, and others to apply for numerous grants for conservation and restoration projects, the administration said. It is backed by an initial $440 million in federal funds over five years — the bulk of which comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law that Congress passed last year — and aims to draw private and philanthropic contributions to reach the $1 billion mark.

Early in his tenure, President Joe Biden set a national goal of protecting 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030 in order to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. And last May, the administration published a report outlining its vision for a 10-year “locally led” effort to conserve and restore lands and waters, slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and address inequalities in who has access to nature and the outdoors.

The new program “will help mobilize new investments in locally led, voluntary conservation and restoration projects across the country, while making it easier for communities to access these resources,” Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement.

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Mail & Guardian

April 4, 2022
Can humanity curb spending that harms the world’s biodiversity and instead focus funding on protecting it? That question is at the heart of negotiations in Geneva, which will set the stage for a crucial United Nations COP15 biodiversity summit in China later this year. 

Almost 200 countries are to adopt a global framework to safeguard nature by mid-century from the destruction wrought by humanity, with a key milestone of 30% protected by 2030.

These ambitions will only be met with a new approach to biodiversity funding and a rethink of the huge sums spent on subsidies harmful to nature such as fossil fuels, agriculture and fishing, according to observers. This can often result in environmental destruction and encourage unsustainable levels of production and consumption.

The exact figure that the world spends on these harmful subsidies is debated, although the group Business for Nature estimates that it could be as much as $1.8-trillion every year, or 2% of global GDP. 

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China Dialogue

April 4, 2022
Negotiators and observers left the latest meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) with renewed momentum but with many issues still unresolved, including how to find the missing US$700 billion needed annually to protect and restore nature.

The two-and-a-half week session in Geneva saw the first purely face-to-face negotiations since before the Covid-19 pandemic began. With just a few months before COP15 – the major CBD meeting, to be held in China – it was also billed as the last chance to make significant changes to the draft text that came out of the last CBD meeting in October, which had been widely criticised.

The Geneva talks saw many additions to the text, but most are in square brackets, meaning they have yet to be agreed upon. An extra meeting has now been scheduled for June in Nairobi to try and find consensus.

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IUCN

March 29, 2022
As the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) talks close in Geneva, Director of IUCN’s International Policy Centre Sonia Peña Moreno reflects on two weeks of negotiations, some missed opportunities, and her hopes for future meetings. Going forward, Parties to the CBD must reconnect with reality and continue to craft a simple, action-oriented post-2020 global biodiversity framework that clearly spells out what must be done to safeguard nature and the services it provides to humanity.

The first in-person meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in over two years opened on Monday 14 March in Geneva, Switzerland. If the opening statements were an indication, the meetings began with high expectations. Parties to the Convention stated their hope to advance a global plan to protect and restore biodiversity for the next decade and beyond (a post-2020 global biodiversity framework).

However, as the days went by, progress became elusive and was replaced by a lack of agreement. The draft text, even on seemingly uncontroversial issues, became full of brackets – denoting text that has yet to be agreed. The overwhelming number of sessions and side-meetings translated into fatigue, and the positive tone became one of frustration.

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The Seattle Times

March 29, 2022
Environmentalists are criticizing slow progress at a U.N.-backed meeting of nearly all the world’s countries toward beefing up protections for biodiversity on Earth, ahead of a crucial meeting expected later this year in China where delegates could sign a global agreement.

A total of 195 countries — but not the United States — which are parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity wrapped up a two-week meeting Tuesday that aimed to make progress toward a deal to prevent the loss of biodiversity and avoid the extinction of many vulnerable species. It also addresses the emergence of pathogens like the coronavirus, which damage both lives and livelihoods.

Delegates agreed to hold an interim meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, in June before a high-level conference known as COP15 in Kunming, China, at a still-undecided date later this year.

“Biodiversity is securing our own survival on this planet. It is not a joking matter,” said Francis Ogwal of Uganda, a meeting co-chair. “Every day that you live as a human being is on biodiversity.”

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BBC

March 29, 2022
A global agreement to reverse the loss of nature and halt extinctions is inching closer, as talks in Geneva enter their final day.

International negotiators are working on the text of a UN framework to safeguard nature ahead of a high-level summit in China later this year.

Observers have slammed the "snail's pace" of negotiations and are pressing for a strengthening of ambitions.

Divisions remain, including over financing the plans.

"The science is very clear, we do not have any more time to waste; we need to take action now," Bernadette Fischler Hooper, head of international advocacy at WWF-UK, told BBC News.

"Not only on biodiversity loss, but also on climate change which is a very inter-linked issue. So that is what's at stake here; it's actually the future of the planet and its people."

The final version of the draft UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be negotiated in Kunming, China, at the Cop15 summit, which is expected to take place at the end of August.

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DW

March 29, 2022
Two weeks of talks that were meant to prepare for a global accord on reversing the destruction of biodiversity have led to just minor steps forward, as the sessions closed on Tuesday.

Although there was some success at the Geneva talks, observers are now calling for the same political leadership that was seen in the run-up to the Paris accord on climate change to breathe urgency into the negotiations.

"This could be a really historic moment in many ways that we've been waiting for for a long time," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, told DW from Geneva.

"In the last two weeks, I think we made a significant step forward on a number of very important elements of the biodiversity framework," Lambertini said. "But much progress needs to be done."

"As we move forward, political leadership is going to be critical to resolve some of the stickiest points and to drive consensus. And so we are calling upon heads of states, prime ministers and ministers of environment to drive that leadership," Lambertini said — calls that were echoed by Greenpeace.

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British Ecological Society

March 28, 2022
The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international treaty that was signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and entered into force in December 1993. Its purpose is to protect species and ecosystems, recognising this as a ‘common concern of humankind’. The Convention has three main objectives:

1. The conservation of biological diversity
2. The sustainable use of the components of biological diversity
3. The fair sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources

The CBD has two main supplementary agreements that help to implement these objectives:
• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2003) governs the movements of modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology between
countries
• The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (2014) provides a transparent legal framework for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources

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Campaign For Nature

March 23, 2020
Coastal community mayors and local government leaders from 8 countries have issued a statement calling for both the protection and responsible use of coastal waters, which they say benefit the world’s coastal habitats and many of the 500 million people worldwide who depend on fisheries for food and income. 

The statement asserts that by “combining local efforts to protect critical biodiversity with effective co-management for coastal fisheries, we can ensure food security, support the productive economy, safeguard livelihoods, and contribute to achieving national and global biodiversity targets including 30x30.”

The Coastal 500 group consists of over 110 mayors and other city-level leaders  from the countries of Brazil, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mozambique, Palau, and the Philippines.  

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SciDevNet

March 18, 2022
Once swathed in green, only three per cent of the Philippines remains covered with pristine forests.  Losing these ecosystems — not to mention the impacts of overfishing, climate change and extreme weather events — has taken a tragic toll on the country’s rich biodiversity and its people.

While the Philippines remains well-stocked with unique fauna and flora and is recognised as one of the world’s 17 mega biodiverse countries, the latest science and fieldwork make it clear that this precious biodiversity is under threat.  Especially at risk are the indigenous people and local communities, who battle to protect it.

We are hopeful that a new global target to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 (30×30 goal) is included in a new global strategy to safeguard biodiversity that is expected to be approved in Kunming, China, later this year.

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