21 Dec 2022 COP15 biodiversity summit
Significance for Prelims: Global Biodiversity Framework(GBF); 30-by-30 target.
Significance for Mains: Not Much
News: Despite an objection from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Chinese presidency and Canadian host government approved the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework(GBF)at the UN-backed COP15 biodiversity conference.
Key agreed areas after negotiations:
- Conservation, protection and restoration through a 30-by-30 approach: (a) Delegates at the United Nations nature summit committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030. Hence, fulfilling the deal’s highest-profile goal, known as 30-by-30. (b) The contribution of indigenous and traditional territories also counts towards the 30-by-30 goal. (c) Other aspirations of the deal include restoring 30% of degraded lands and waters throughout the decade, an increase from the earlier aim of 20%. (d) Preventing destruction of intact landscapes and areas with many species, bringing these destructions and losses “close to zero by 2030”.
- Money for nature: All the deal’s signatories would ensure that $200 billion annually is channelled for conservation initiatives from both public and private sources. Contribution from wealthier or developed countries should be at least $20 billion of this every year by 2025, and by 2030 it should be at least $30 billion a year. The Democratic Republic of Congo objected to this package.
- Big companies should report impacts on biodiversity: Companies need to analyse and report their operations and their effect on biodiversity issues. Large companies and financial institutions should disclose their operations, supply chains and portfolios. This report intends to promote biodiversity progressively and encourage sustainable production.
- Harmful subsidies: The deal calls for identifying, eliminating and phasing out or reforming subsidies that deplete biodiversity by 2025. Most Countries agreed to increase positive incentives for conservation and slash harmful incentives by at least $500 billion a year by 2030.
- Pollution and pesticides: Deal sought to reduce the use of pesticides by up to two-thirds. The deal also focused on other forms of pest management. The goal of the Kunming-Montreal agreement is to reduce pollution’s adverse effects to levels that are not damaging to the environment, but here the text provides no quantifiable target.
- Monitoring and reporting progress: To prevent the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement from meeting the same fate as similar targets agreed upon in Aichi, Japan, in 2010. Processes would support aims at COP-15 to monitor progress in the future. The format for review of National action plans is similar to the format used for greenhouse gas emissions under U.N.-led efforts to curb climate change.
Conclusion: Challenge of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) lies in its implementation. A recent report showed that none of the Aichi targets of COP10 in Nagoya, Japan, was achieved at the end of the decade.
Prelims:
Q1. The kunming-Montreal agreement is associated with
(a) COP-14
(b) COP-13
(c) COP-15
(d) COP-12
Source: The Indian Express
Article: 30-by-30: Key takeaways from the COP15 biodiversity summit
Article Link: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/30-by-30-key-takeaways-un-cop15-biodiversity-summit-8333204/
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