The agreement was reached early this morning at the UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) in Montreal, after two weeks of negotiations. Although the Biden administration has a local plan to protect 30% of US land and water by 2030, the only parties to the deal were the US and the Vatican.
With the agreement, each participating country agrees to meet more than 20 environmental targets by the end of the decade. One of the most important conditions is the so-called 30×30 plan to protect at least 30% of land, inland water and coastal areas by 2030. This forms the basis of an international agreement similar to the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
In addition to protecting habitats, countries have pledged to reduce pesticide risks by 50%, reduce the flow of nutrients from farms and the rate at which invasive species enter ecosystems.
Nations now have eight years to halt human-directed loss of biodiversity through rainforest destruction, species exploitation, pollution and more. Previous agreements, such as the biodiversity targets set in Aichi, Japan in 2010, have seen nations fail to meet set targets. This time, however, there is a monitoring framework to track progress.
200 countries took action to prevent the destruction of the world!
In addition to protecting species, the draft COP15 agreement calls on nations to recognize and respect the “rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including traditional territories.” However, Amnesty International wrote that the agreement was a “missed opportunity to protect the rights of indigenous peoples”, as it did not explicitly recognize its territory as a separate category of protected areas.
Another issue of disagreement between rich and poor countries was over funds. According to The Washington Post, nations in South America and Africa, home to the world’s largest rainforests, sought assurances from rich countries that they would receive money to combat poaching, illegal deforestation and other problems.
The COP15 agreement comes after a groundbreaking agreement at the COP27 climate conference that approved a climate damage fund for developing countries. How well the plan will be implemented, however, remains to be seen. Tanya Sanerib of the Center for Biodiversity said: “While the deals are great, we must now roll up our sleeves and do it if we are to save life on Earth. The planet is facing an extinction crisis that humanity has never seen before, and 28% of species worldwide are going extinct. in danger.”