World Summit on Nature: breakthrough for biodiversity?

Created: 12/19/2022, 12:51 p.m

A World Summit on Nature agreement aims to protect the habitats of insects and other species.

© Sina Schuldt/dpa

Parallel to the climate crisis there is a biodiversity crisis: many animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.

An agreement should prevent that - but can that be enough?

MONTREAL - For around two weeks, representatives from around 200 countries have been struggling to come up with a new agreement on species protection at the World Conservation Summit in Montreal, Canada.

For a long time it didn't look as if a compromise would be reached, but then a final declaration was passed on Monday.

What was decided at the summit?

The final declaration is actually a package of several documents, comprising a total of 4 resolutions and 23 objectives.

Among other things, at least 30 percent of the world's land and sea areas are to be placed under protection by 2030.

In addition, more money should be spent on protecting biodiversity.

For example, richer countries should give poorer countries around 20 billion dollars a year by 2025.

The threat to humans and the environment from pesticides is to be halved by 2030 and environmentally harmful subsidies are to be phased out.

What does the 30 percent by 2030 target mean?

According to the text of the declaration, it should be “ensured and made possible” that by 2030 at least 30 percent of the land areas, inland waterways and coastal and sea areas on earth will be “effectively conserved”.

Where possible, this should also happen in cooperation with indigenous peoples and local communities.

The “30 to 30” target was considered to be extremely important from the outset, and environmentalists are celebrating its adoption as a great success.

"There has never been a biodiversity goal of this magnitude," says Brian O'Donnell of the organization Campaign for Nature.

However, it is criticized that the text does not specify enough what “effectively conserved” actually means.

What does the agreement mean for Germany?

According to the Ministry of the Environment, the 30 percent target has already been reached in Germany.

In Germany, 45 percent of the sea areas are protected.

A ministry spokesman in Berlin explained that the rate on land - if one includes landscape protection areas - is also well over 30 percent.

But there is also "homework" for the federal government - for example in reducing harmful subsidies.

Why did the negotiations take so long?

Disagreements abounded everywhere.

Some countries wanted the wording to be vague, while others wanted clear, measurable targets.

Above all, however, there were differences in financing.

Many poorer countries demanded significantly more financial support from richer countries.

A group of developing and emerging countries, led by Brazil, even temporarily withdrew from the negotiations in protest.

Ultimately, after a marathon of negotiations at the convention center in snowy Montreal, a compromise was finally found - but after it was approved at 3:30 a.m. local time on Monday morning, the representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo once again expressed his unease about the funding.

Is the explanation now the breakthrough?

It is a success that there was a joint final declaration at all - participants, experts and observers agree on that.

But while the Chinese summit presidency spoke of a "historic moment" and Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) of a "good day for global nature and environmental protection", others saw it much more critically.

“In the natural and climate crisis, the world is racing towards an abyss,” warned, for example, the President of the Nabu Nature Conservation Union, Jörg-Andreas Krüger.

"But instead of braking decisively, she just slows down a bit."

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What is important now?

Everyone agrees that the agreement is just the beginning.

Now it's time to implement it - and it's likely to be much more difficult.

The document is not legally binding and many of its objectives are quite vague.

Each participating state must now see how it can implement the goals specifically for itself.

That is what is really important, the head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, had warned in advance.

Otherwise, the final declaration is nothing more than “a beautiful document that we can decorate our shelves with”.

dpa