World Conference on Nature: "We finally need a turnaround in the loss of biological diversity"

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Environment Minister at an appointment on the Oder: "We have no more time to lose"

Photo: IMAGO/Mike Schmidt

The German federal government, together with other countries, announced a new nature conservation initiative on Saturday.

Together with Colombia and other countries, developing countries are to be supported in implementing their national biodiversity strategies and action plans.

At the World Conservation Conference in Montreal, the government promised to provide a total of 29 million euros for the new partnership (“NBSAP Accelerator Partnership”).

This was announced by the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on Saturday in Berlin.

“We finally need a turnaround in the loss of biological diversity and the global extinction of species.

We have no more time to lose,” said Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens).

"With the partnership launched today, we can start implementing it immediately after the new global agreement on biological diversity has been adopted." The aim is to establish a "real partnership" in which all relevant actors are involved and assume responsibility.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had already announced in September that the funds for biodiversity projects around the world would be doubled to 1.5 billion by 2025.

That should be a strong signal for an ambitious result for the World Conservation Conference.

However, nature conservation organizations are demanding that the payments should be increased significantly.

Too little nature conservation inland

According to experts, however, Germany's efforts in terms of nature conservation are far from sufficient to adequately halt the global loss of species.

In fact, the Germans are promoting the disappearance of species through their consumer behavior.

At the same time, the authorities in this country have too few protected areas, as scientists report.

(Read more about how Germany is failing on wildlife conservation here.)

Organizers, scientists and representatives of non-governmental organizations hope that the nature conservation summit in Montreal, which is scheduled for Monday, will result in a global agreement on species protection – similar to the Paris climate protection agreement.

One of the main goals is to protect at least 30 percent of the world's land and sea areas by 2030.

(Read more about what the Montreal World Conference on Nature is about here.)

According to experts from the World Biodiversity Council, one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.

In addition, only a quarter of the land area is in its natural state.

At the same time, according to calculations by the World Economic Forum from 2020, more than half of the world's gross domestic product depends on nature.

Environmental sanctions also contribute to the destruction of nature.

It is being discussed in Montreal to reduce at least $500 billion.

hpp/dpa/afp