REPRESENTATIVES attending the COP15 summit of world governments struck an agreement on Monday to conserve 30 per cent of the earth for nature by 2030.
If enacted, the “30 by 30” deal would boost the protection of vital ecosystems which are currently suffering from a host of human pressures such as climate change, pollution, deforestation, and over-development.
The talks, chaired by China but held in Montreal, Canada, owing to the Covid-19 restrictions in the original host country, came to a close at 3 a.m. local time on Monday, after an epic seven-hour final plenary. The meeting finished amid contentious scenes as the COP15 President, China’s Ecology Minister, Huang Runqiu, declared the agreement struck despite objections from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
UN meetings such as these are supposed to end only with unanimous agreement, and a number of African countries were opposed because the deal did not create a new biodiversity fund separate from the current UN funding arrangements.
As well as the “30 by 30” agreement on conservation, the Kunming-Montreal pact, as the agreement will be known, includes promises to reform the $1.8 trillion that the world spends every year on environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies. The position of indigenous people — long omitted from previous agreements — plays a more central part this time, with 18 mentions in the final text.
Indigenous people have been hailed by numerous studies as crucial guardians of nature. Despite making up just five per cent of humanity, they help to protect 80 per cent of the earth’s biodiversity. The impact that businesses have on nature destruction was also a focus of the talks, and, although the language was watered down at the last minute, the pact calls for companies to disclose “their risks, dependencies, and impacts on biodiversity”.
Greenpeace warned that more needed to be done if the world was to avoid “mass extinction”. The head of the Greenpeace delegation at COP15, An Lambrechts, said: “The ‘30 by 30’ target, to protect at least 30 per cent of land and of sea by 2030, has successfully made it in. But it is stripped-down, without essential qualifiers that exclude damaging activities from protected areas. As is, it is just an empty number, with protections on paper but nowhere else.”
She echoed the concerns raised by African nations about a lack of funding: “$20 billion a year until 2025, and then $30 billion a year until 2030, is a start, but it’s not enough. With a $700-billion biodiversity funding gap, it’s unclear where the rest of the money will come from. Finance is not only a question of how much, but how fast. Setting up a fund in 2023 should get funding to developing countries faster.”
Members of Christian Climate Action have held prayer vigils outside Bristol Cathedral this week and throughout the year, and wrote to the Prime Minister calling for the UK to prioritise biodiversity protection. Sarah MacDonald, who has helped to organise the vigils, said: “Holding vigil, for me, is surprisingly powerful. I imagine a network of light between all the people across the world doing all they can to protect and serve life. I feel genuinely connected and supported, and I feel that our presence supports others as well.”
During the summit, the UK was accused of undermining its position at COP15 by setting weak domestic targets for environmental protection. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced new legally binding targets six weeks after the deadline for their publication; but they are weaker than those proposed in their consultation document.
They contain no overall targets for river health and protected sites, and, despite the consultation’s recommending an increase in woodland cover from 14.5 per cent to 17.5 per cent in England by 2050, the new target is 16.5 per cent. Water-pollution targets for UK rivers were moved back from 2037 to 2038.
The environment charity WWF has described the UK as one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe: more than one in seven native species face extinction, and more than 40 per cent are in decline.
The CEO of the Wildlife Trusts, Craig Bennett, said: “Not a single river, lake, or estuary in England is in good health, with sewage, agricultural and chemical pollution continuing to pour into our waterways. Failing to set targets to tackle these fundamental issues defies public opinion. Without a target to improve our protected sites, the Government has little hope of achieving its international commitment to protect 30 per cent of land for nature by 2030.”
