OPTIMISM GROWS AHEAD OF BIODIVERSITY SUMMIT
Framework for conference in Montreal intends to set new goals to conserve biodiversity and reverse nature loss but nations still split on some issues
China has said that countries have reached a basic consensus on biodiversity protection for a global conference to be held in Canada next month.
After four rounds of talks, there was positive progress on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, Zhou Guomei, head of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s international department,yesterday said.
The framework will be adopted by the 196 parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) when they meet in Montreal, where the secretariat is based, on December 7-19.
The meeting will be the second phase of the UN Biodiversity Conference known as COP15. The first phase of the conference was hosted by China, president of COP15, in Kunming last year.
The framework is intended to set new goals to conserve biodiversity and reverse nature loss by 2030, and to live in harmony with nature by 2050.
“The structure of the framework and core expressions have basically taken shape,” Zhou said.
She added that CBD member states had exchanged views on challenging issues, providing a good basis for arriving at a deal in Montreal that could be accepted by all parties. Several targets were raised in the draft of the framework, such as conserving at least 30 per cent of the planet’s land and sea areas by 2030 and cutting the introduction of invasive foreign species by at least half by 2030.
Zhou said the framework focused on three main objectives: to conserve biodiversity; to use biodiversity sustainably; and to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources.
“There is an international consensus that the three goals should be implemented in a comprehensive and balanced manner, rather than focusing too much on one goal,” she said.
The conference comes at a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss. The 2022 Living Planet Report, published by the global conservation body WWF in October, found that since 1970 there had been a devastating average 69 per cent drop in monitored wildlife populations, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish.
The international community also has high expectations for the new biodiversity agenda after the CBD member states failed to fully achieve any of the 20 Aichi
Biodiversity Targets to reduce biodiversity loss and protect habitats by 2020 that were agreed in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010.
Zhou said CBD member states still remained divided on specific issues and more communication and effort were needed to balance the objectives.
For many developing nations, resource mobilisation and financial support would be key, she said, and China would like to cooperate with others in biodiversity conservation.
Zhou said the China-Laos cross-border biodiversity reserve was at 200,000 hectares, enabling protection of species such as the Asian elephant and its habitat.
The Sino-Africa joint research centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences had also trained more than 200 postgraduates in Africa in biodiversity conservation, supplying talent in the field for African countries, she said. “China is willing to … provide support for biodiversity conservation in developing countries and provide Chinese solutions.”