Governments risk another decade of failure on biodiversity loss due to slow implementation of a global agreement to halt destruction of the Earth’s ecosystems, experts have warned as the UN biodiversity summit known as Cop16 goes into its final hours in Columbia.
In 2022 the world reached a historic agreement at Cop15 in Montreal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on the planet. The deal included targets to protect 30 per cent of Earth for nature by the end of the decade (30x30); to reform $500 billion of environmentally damaging subsidies and to begin restoring 30 per cent of the planet’s degraded ecosystems.
But among country representatives who have been in Cali for two weeks, concern is growing over the lack of concrete progress on any of the major targets agreed upon. An increasing number of indicators show governments are not on track. They still need to protect an area of land equivalent to the combined size of Brazil and Australia, and an expanse of sea larger than the Indian Ocean to meet the headline 30x30 target, according to a new UN report.
Weak progress on funding for nature and almost no progress on subsidy reform have also frustrated observers. At the time of publication, 158 countries are yet to submit formal plans on how they are going to meet the targets, according to Carbon Brief, missing their deadline this month ahead of the biodiversity summit, where governments are not likely to set a new deadline.
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“Progress has been too slow. I think political prioritisation of nature is still too low. This is reflected by progress on the targets. Several targets are very easy to measure: 30x30 has metrics on area and quality, finance has a dollar figure. We have new data on both that show we’re not on pace,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature.
“This is a moment to demonstrate seriousness and build trust. On finance especially, it’s been disturbing at times to go to parties to ask for their path forward for finance and be treated as if we are asking for something new or unrealistic, as opposed to what they just agreed two years ago. To me, that is a reflection of not a true commitment to this.”
Mr O’Donnell’s concern was echoed by Fintan Kelly, land-use policy officer with the Irish Environmental Network, who is attending Cop16. The commitment made at Cop15 was ambitious, he said, “but the funding to achieve this is anything but ambitious. There needs to be billions invested not millions”.
A fund for developing countries to protect biodiversity was not at the level promised; “countries aren’t treating this as the emergency it is”, Mr Kelly added.
“Putting money into this fund is not charity. Developed countries are the largest consumers and polluters of the planet and developing countries are paying the price first. It is only right that countries in the global north should be paying the global south to initiate greater conservation measures,” Mr Kelly said.
Backing a protest by indigenous people seeking direct supports for protecting nature, he said: “Peace with Nature is the motto of Cop16. We cannot make peace with nature if we do not respect the rights of nature’s greatest custodians, the world’s indigenous peoples.”
Mr Kelly supported their call for recognition of the essential role of indigenous people in conserving global biodiversity through the adoption of the permanent subsidiary body under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Inger Andersen, director of the UN Environment Programme, said it was too early to say whether governments were not doing enough to meet the targets, underscoring that many were working hard. She said there had been signs of progress, but acknowledged more needed to be done.
“The world is working on it. Will we meet every single target by 2030? I hope. If we don’t, is that a catastrophe? No, but did we make a promise to each other that we are going to stretch and do the very best that we can,” Ms Andersen said. “We still have six years to go.”
The UN and coastal countries warned the world’s coral reefs are being devastated by the effects of warming oceans and urged nations to increase funding for urgent efforts to save them.
There was an emergency special session alongside Cop16 talks in response to corals globally experiencing their worst bleaching on record. Such UN special sessions are typically called in response to humanitarian emergencies related to war or natural disasters.
“We’re approaching this point where the planet may lose its first planetary ecosystem,” said Peter Thomson, UN special envoy for oceans. “Coral is the first to go if we continue down the track that we’re on at the present.” – Additional reporting Guardian
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