MONTREAL –
A new global agreement to save nature from human destruction was approved Monday night at the COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, despite the objections of several African countries that accused the Chinese presidency of forcing an agreement against your objections.
The final agreement calls for all 196 signatories to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to move by 2030 to conserve and protect at least 30 percent of land and marine areas. It also calls for effective restoration of at least 30 percent of all land, water, and coastal regions that have already been damaged.
It also details the financial assistance expected from developed countries, the private sector, and philanthropic sources to help developing countries and small island developing states implement protections.
China’s Environment Minister Huang Runqiu lowered the gavel and declared the deal would close around 3:30 a.m. in Montreal, drawing a standing ovation.
“This is a historic moment,” Huang said.
Shortly after the hammer fell, Canada’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, called the deal “a bold step to protect nature.”
“To protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and for that, Mr. President, we are extremely grateful.”
But the fall of Huang’s gavel came minutes after the Democratic Republic of Congo’s representative at the table indicated that his country could not support the deal, largely out of concerns about how the financing will work.
“The DRC cannot stand in its current state,” the country’s representative said through a translator.
That led other African delegates, including from Uganda and Cameroon, to oppose it. The Ugandan representative accused Huang of a “coup” against biodiversity talks.
The Cameroonian delegate said Huang had “twisted the procedure” and pushed the whole deal with “one handed force.”
A legal adviser to the proceedings said that because the DRC’s comments had not been a “formal objection”, there was nothing wrong with Huang declaring the deal approved, prompting the DRC delegate to return. and say that your objection was formal.
None of the objections seemed to matter at this point, although there are concerns about what it could mean for implementation. The agreement is not legally binding and any country can opt out of the targets if they do not want to.
In a discussion with reporters after the death, Guilbeault tried to downplay the concerns of African countries, saying other global environmental agreements have also had such objections.
Guilbeault said he is already reaching out to the Democratic Republic of Congo about his concerns, but said he doesn’t think there was a legal problem with the way Huang handled it.
“I think the presidency acted within the guidelines,” he said.
Other goals in the deal include halving the risk of highly hazardous pesticides and chemicals, phasing out government subsidies that damage nature by more than C$700 billion a year by 2030, reducing the impact of invasive species, reduce food waste and require large multinational companies and financial institutions to monitor and disclose how their operations affect nature.
The new agreement is titled the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, after the official host cities in China and Canada.
The deal was four years in the making. It was delayed four times due to COVID-19. Final negotiations were eventually moved from China to Montreal due to China’s ongoing pandemic restrictions.
The final agreement came after nearly two weeks of negotiations between 196 countries that are parties to the UN biodiversity convention. They were looking for a new deal to stop human destruction of nature and start restoring what was already lost.
The United Nations says three-quarters of the world’s land has been altered by human activities and as a result, a million species face extinction this century.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 19, 2022
