COP15: Nations reach landmark deal to protect nature, halt biodiversity loss by 2030

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, December 19

In a ‘landmark’ biodiversity agreement to protect nature, nations (or Parties as they are referred to in climate parlance) including India, approved a “Paris-style” deal to halt, protect and reverse biodiversity loss at the United Nations COP15 World Conference on Nature in Montreal this morning.

The deal followed intense negotiations to ensure that nature is pulled back from the brink by 2030 while keeping alive the plan to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement. One of the most important targets includes the protection of 30% of the world’s lands, waters, coastal areas and oceans by 2030.

At present, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are under protection.

Over the next year these 196 governments will put into action what has been agreed—including creating plans by 2024 while rich nations will put $30 billion per annum by 2030 on the table—to save the lands, oceans, and species from pollution, degradation, and climate change.

Big businesses and investors will  be expected to report on actions that impact and protect nature as well.

One of the most contentious issues—finance package to support conservation efforts globally, particularly in developing countries—saw a commitment to progressively increase the level from all sources by 2030.

Experts called the commitment to $20 billion finance flows by 2025 and $30 billion by 2030 a major achievement, comparing the “landmark” plan to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris Agreement.

“The Global Biodiversity Framework is set to provide the political certainty that all large businesses and financial institutions will be required to assess and disclose risks and impacts on nature.

“The result will be stronger accountability and better-informed decisions by investors, governments, consumers and businesses themselves,” they said.

 Targets also include cutting environmentally destructive farming subsidies, reducing the risk from pesticides and tackling invasive species.

The deal aims to reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, cut global food waste in half, and significantly reduce over-consumption and waste generation.

It also intends to cut by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals. Notably, stressing on the importance of agriculture for developing nations, India wanted that setting numerical global target for pesticide reduction in the agriculture sector was “unnecessary and must be left for countries to decide”.

The agreement will progressively phase out or reform 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

As always, the deal evoked mixed response with some groups welcoming the “potentially transformative impacts” the new agreement may have while others missing the crucial details around finance and conservation. The package is by no means flawless but this is not the end. By the next COP in 2024, governments have a lot of homework to turn these agreed goals into actions at home.

The deal

•  Protect 30% of the planet by the end of the decade (2030)
•  Reform $500 billion of environmentally damaging subsidies
•  Raise $ 30 billion per annum by 2030
• Cut global food waste in half, waste generation
• Cut down risks posed by pesticides/hazardous chemicals