Will we get a ‘Montreal Agreement’ for biodiversity at COP15?
At COP21 in 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted, a landmark diplomatic tool in the global fight against climate change. This week, another kind of COP is happening in Montreal, and some hope it will lead to a similar agreement to protect biodiversity.
The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) takes place in Montreal Dec. 7-19.
The Convention was signed by 196 countries at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to accomplish three core goals: “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.” (Note that the U.S. signed, but never ratified.)
Unlike climate COPs, this one only happens every other year. It should have been held in 2020 in Kunming China, but due to the country’s COVID policies, only a portion was held online. It will finally happen in person in Montreal, as the city is the seat of the CBD Secretariat, but China will still preside over the event.
The final version of the Kunming Declaration adopted during the virtual convention in 2021 includes 17 commitments that will set the table for these negotiations, notably to integrate biodiversity in every level of decision-making and policy, and to enable the full participation of Indigenous and local communities as well as vulnerable populations to implement the biodiversity framework.
The delegates at COP15 have a serious challenge: to adopt a new global framework to stop the decline of living species by 2030. A recent WWF Living Planet Report states that populations of vertebrate species have declined by 69 per cent since 1970. In Canada, 59 per cent of the populations of endangered species have been lost.
In order to preserve biodiversity, the CBD sets a “30 by 30” target to conserve 30 per cent of the planet’s land and sea by 2030. It is a very ambitious target for some countries. Globally, only 16 per cent of land and eight per cent of marine areas are protected; in Canada, it’s only 13 per cent of land and nine per cent of oceans. Setting conservation targets and strengthening those commitments will be a key issues negotiated during this COP.
Just like at the COP27 in Egypt, financial issues will be front and centre. Again, activities in rich countries have a negative impact on biodiversity in developing countries. Keep in mind that about half of habitable land on earth is used for agriculture.
Meanwhile, to satisfy the global demand for palm oil, Indonesia is cutting down thousands of trees and Amazon has been razed for pasture to fulfill our appetite for cheap meat. The loss of biodiversity that arises from these economic activities has an impact on the whole world, as old growth forests are not just habitat for plant and animal species, but also important carbon sinks.
These examples illustrate the intimate link between these two fights — against climate change and for biodiversity — and underscores the collective responsibility all countries share.
Hopes were high after the COP10 on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan; sadly, none of the targets set then have been reached. For this COP15 to be a success, the parties will have to agree on ambitious targets and, more importantly, give themselves the means to achieve them fairly and quickly.
Thumbnail image: Outside COP15 in Montreal.
