The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity was convened under UN auspices, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada in Montreal.
- Held at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès Dec. 7-19, representatives of 188 governments on site (95% of all 196 Parties to the UN CBD, as well as two non-Parties – the United States and The Vatican), finalized and approved measures to arrest the ongoing loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity and set humanity in the direction of a sustainable relationship with nature, with clear indicators to measure progress.
- The members countries on December 19 adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), including four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.
Salient features of “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF)
- Delegates committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030, fulfilling the deal’s highest-profile goal, known as 30-by-30.
- Indigenous and traditional territories will also count toward this goal, as many countries and campaigners pushed for during the talks.
- The deal also aspires to restore 30% of degraded lands and waters throughout the decade, up from an earlier aim of 20%.
- And the world will strive to prevent destroying intact landscapes and areas with a lot of species, bringing those losses “close to zero by 2030”.
- Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation
- Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals.
- Progressively phase out or reform by 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity’s conservation and sustainable use
- Mobilize by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private.
- Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030.
About UN Convention on Biological Diversity
- Opened for signature in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and entering into force in December 1993, the CBD is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources.
With 196 Parties, the CBD has near universal participation among countries. The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including:
- threats from climate change, through scientific assessments,
- the development of tools, incentives and processes,
- the transfer of technologies and good practices and
- the full and active involvement of relevant stakeholders including indigenous peoples and local communities, youth, women, NGOs, sub-national actors and the business community.
- The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing are supplementary agreements to the CBD. T
