What is COP15? Why it matters and what’s at stake at the Montreal summit | 24CA News
Thousands of delegates representing 192 international locations will spend the following two weeks in Montreal, hammering out a once-in-a-decade settlement that may purpose to construct a extra sustainable relationship between people and nature.
The UN biodiversity summit, often called COP15, formally kicks off Dec. 7 in Montreal. If all goes in response to plan, the convention will produce a brand new settlement outlining international biodiversity targets for the following 10 years.
The convention is meant to wrap up on Dec. 19, however negotiations could run into time beyond regulation.
Here’s what you might want to know.
What’s the distinction between COP15 and COP27?
COP, in United Nations jargon, merely means Conference of Parties. It is a decision-making physique made up of nations which have signed a conference.
COP15 is totally different from the local weather change summit, COP27, which was just lately held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. That convention was below the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Montreal summit, COP15, is a gathering below the Convention on Biological Diversity. In 1992, 150 authorities leaders first signed that conference on the Rio Earth Summit.
While biodiversity and local weather change are associated points, the 2 conventions are separate.
This assembly marks the second a part of COP15, typically known as the Nature COP or the UN biodiversity summit. The first half was held final yr as a largely digital convention based mostly in Kunming, China.
Though it is being hosted in Montreal, the summit is chaired below the presidency of China.
Why must you care?
The biodiversity summit is an enormous deal, as a result of it is prone to end in a brand new framework or settlement, outlining targets for the way the world ought to shield nature and use it extra sustainably and equitably.
“The food we eat comes from biodiversity, the water we drink comes from biodiversity. The air we breathe [comes from biodiversity],” stated Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, government secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The final aim is to cease biodiversity loss and construct a sustainable relationship with nature in response to unprecedented charges of declining nature and species extinction.
Why do we want a brand new plan?
The stress is on to create a brand new settlement with higher monitoring and financing inbuilt after international locations, together with Canada, failed to fulfill the 2020 targets of the final biodiversity plan, often called the Aichi targets.
Basile Van Havre helps to mediate negotiations as co-chair of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Open-Ended Working Group for a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
“The lesson from the Aichi system is that, when you put easy to understand numerical targets, they get attention,” he stated. “We need to put in place a much more robust system that enables progress to be measured as we go.”
A key aim of the previous Aichi plan was to preserve no less than 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas by 2020.
The new goal below the draft settlement is the much-talked about 30 by 30 aim: preserving 30 per cent of land, freshwater and oceans by 2030.
Canada has already dedicated to that pledge. The newest figures present Canada has conserved 13.5 per cent of its land and freshwater and 13.9 per cent of marine territory.
What are the important thing targets and challenges?
The draft settlement remains to be suffering from objects that have to be negotiated and finalized, however usually talking the important thing factors embody halting nature loss, stopping human-caused species extinction, decreasing air pollution, sustainable administration of agriculture and forestry industries and sharing the advantages of genetic sources pretty and equitably.
There have been many calls from numerous environmental and Indigenous teams for the framework to additionally acknowledge the management of Indigenous communities as stewards of nature.
“The global community, in looking to protect 30 per cent of lands and waters, is in some ways catching up to Indigenous ambitions of conservation,” stated Valérie Courtois, director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative and a member of the Innu group of Mashteuiatsh, Quebec.
“We understand that our very survival is dependent on the health of these landscapes … we know that if we take care of the land, it will take care of us.”
As far as sticking factors in negotiations, Van Havre stated there are three key ones: how formidable the plan ought to be, how it will likely be financed and the way to make sure progress is measured and reported transparently.
“The negotiation will be difficult, no doubt. There is a huge change at play,” he stated. “But I have not seen anybody saying they don’t want an agreement.”
Asked how doubtless he thinks there might be an settlement by Dec. 19, he stated it is attainable talks will go into time beyond regulation.
“Will we be done by 6 p.m. on the 19th? Maybe not. Will I have granola bars in my pocket that day? A lot.”
Who is attending?
A complete 15,723 folks, together with authorities representatives, NGO members and journalists, have registered to attend the UN biodiversity summit in individual, although the precise quantity of people that present up could also be much less.
While the summit is being hosted in Montreal, it is chaired by China. The solely head of state anticipated to attend is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. China might be represented by its minister of atmosphere and COP 15 president Huang Runqiu.
Traditionally, world leaders don’t attend the biodiversity summits, however as an alternative ship ministerial representatives to negotiations.
Mrema stated state leaders need not attend, so long as they sign they’re dedicated to the method.
“Hopefully at the end of the day there will be an agreement, a consensus … which is transformative and ambitious,” she stated.
