COP15: How New international biodiversity agreement strengthens climate action

By Azeez Mojeed Olusola

Countries that converged at the recently held UN Biodiversity Conference COP15 in Montreal reached an agreement that observers believe represents a key step in protecting the world’s lands and oceans and bolsters efforts to safeguard the world’s climate.

Governments’ commitment to protecting 30% of land and water is considered important for biodiversity by 2030. Currently, only 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.

The Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework also calls for raising $200 billion by 2030 for biodiversity from a range of sources and working to phase out or reform subsidies that could provide another $500 billion for nature.

As part of the financing package, the framework asks for increasing to at least $20 billion annually by 2025 the money that goes to poor countries. That number would increase to $30 billion each year by 2030.

Land and marine ecosystems which are home to the vast majority of the world’s species – forests, peatlands, coastal areas and the ocean – absorb more than 50 per cent of man-made carbon emissions. This makes them vital to meeting the Paris Agreement’s central goal of holding global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.

At the same time, biodiversity plays a huge role in building resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change, with nature-based solutions such as the protection of coral reefs and mangrove forests protect coastal communities from storms, flooding and erosion

Elizabeth Mrema, head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and Canada’s Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, both described the conference as a “Paris moment for biodiversity”, in reference to the historic 2015 Paris Agreement on climate action.

Under this Agreement, governments promised to develop sufficiently ambitious climate and strategies to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.

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