As the COP15 UN Conference on Biodiversity in Montreal came to an end, around 190 countries adopted the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework that aims to protect 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans by 2030 (also known as 30 by 30 goal). The agreement at the COP15 UN Biodiversity Summit in Montreal, Canada, came early on Monday morning.
Some key points of the deal are:
- Genetic diversity – Countries agreed to establish a new mechanism to share the benefits of products built using genetic data from the world’s microbes, animals and plants.
- Sustainable use of biodiversity – Ensuring that species and habitats can provide the services they provide for humanity, such as food and clean water.
- Fair and equal use of resources – Ensuring that the benefits of resources from nature, like medicines that come from plants, are shared fairly and equally and that indigenous peoples’ rights are protected.
- Biodiversity finance – Nations will aim to mobilize $200 billion a year in public and private funding by the end of the decade, with higher-income countries contributing at least $30 billion a year.
The agreement also includes targets for countries to cut subsidies by $500 billion per year by 2030 that are considered harmful to nature – like the ones that support unsustainable agriculture or fisheries.
Due to the rampant degradation of biodiversity, scientists have already warned about the potential increase in transmission of diseases (like Malaria, Zika, Ebola, SARs CoV-2, HIV and others) from wildlife to humans.
The conference was conducted under the joint leadership of the governments of Canada and China because, earlier, the framework was to be signed in Kunming, China. However, due to the COVID-19 situation in China, the venue was later shifted to Montreal, Canada.
The next UN biodiversity summit will take place in 2024 and is expected to see countries strengthen financial commitments towards halting biodiversity loss.
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