COP15: in Montreal, historical commitments for biodiversity

An agreement providing to protect 30 % of the planet by 2030 and to increase resources intended for nature protection has been adopted by 195 states and the European Union.

by Perrine Mouterde

The road was long and chaotic, and until the end the outcome of the negotiations will have appeared suspended from the critical question of financial means. But, after four years of discussion, more than 190 states finally adopted, Monday, December 19 in Canada, a historic agreement to try to tackle the gigantic challenge of the collapse of the living. Protect 30 % of the planet, restore 30 % of ecosystems, half reduce pesticide risks, double overall funding in favor of nature protection: leaders around the world are committed to taking “urgent measures” To “stop and reverse the loss of biodiversity” by the end of the decade.

“Six months ago, we were not sure we could hold this conference but today we are making a daring step to protect the nature, the water we drink, the air we breathe”, Steven Guilbeault, the Canadian Minister of the Environment.

Initially scheduled in 2020 in the Chinese city of Kunming, postponed on multiple times due to the Pandemic of Covid-19 and finally moved to Canada, the 15 e World Conference for Biodiversity ( COP15) was presented as the “COP of the decade”: its mission was to establish a new world framework to succeed the “Aichi agreements”, a series of objectives adopted in 2010 in Japan which had ended, In 2020, by an observation of generalized failure.

In recent decades, the erosion of biodiversity has only worsened: species decline at an unprecedented rate, more than 75 % of land spaces have already been altered and the majority of oceans are polluted . “The sixth extinction is caused by humans, not by a meteorite,” said American actor James Cromwell during his visit to the Montreal Congress Palace. “We are not approaching a point of no return for nature, we are there,” also alerted the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB), Elizabeth Maruma Mrema.

Sunday, when the whole world had their eyes turned towards the World Cup in Qatar, another final was played in Canada. In the morning, China, which presides over the COP, put on the table a new version of the project of agreement, presented as a compromise text. The talks then accelerated, allowing to unlock the main blocking points in less than twenty-four hours.

You have 76.79% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.