UN plan: Protect 30% of Earth’s surface by 2030

EXPERTS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS WELCOMED THE PLAN’S TARGET, BUT REMAINED SCEPTICAL AS TO WHETHER THE POLITICAL WILL EXISTS TO MAKE SURE IT IS MET

PARIS: Thirty percent of Earth’s surface across land and sea should become protected areas by 2030 to ensure the viability of ecosystems essential to human wellbeing, according to a UN plan released on Monday.

The draft proposal to halt the degradation of nature and the gathering pace of species loss will be vetted by nearly 200 countries gathering in October for a make-or-break biodiversity summit, the 15th since 1994.

Up to now, UN targets to safeguard or restore ecosystems have failed for lack of political backing, implementation and enforcement. But the need for action has never been so urgent: last year the first UN “state of Nature” report in two decades found that one million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction.

Across the board, humanity has been the culprit. Even in recent decades, Homo sapiens have crowded, eaten, poached and poisoned many species to t he br i nk o f o bl i vi o n, a nd pushed others over the edge.

Last week, for example, scientists declared the freshwater Chinese paddlefish - which thrived for 200 million years - extinct.

Global warming has also begun to take a toll, with far worse impacts on the not-so-distant horizon, experts say.

“This is an incredibly important year to address the crisis facing nature and climate,” said Costa Rica’s energy and environment minister, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez.

“They are two sides of the same coin and we must address both crises aggressively.”

The so-called “zero draft” report calls for carving out at least 30 percent of land and sea areas, with at least 10 percent under strict protection, to conserve biodiversity hot spots.

The proposed figures are to be negotiated at the Un-led talks, a process similar to the one that yielded the Paris climate treaty.

Indeed, conservationists hope the October meeting in Kunming, China, wil l be a “Paris moment” for biodiversity which has received far less attention - and money - than global warming.