It was almost a special moment in the early hours of Monday morning in the Palais des congrès in Montreal. China and Canada, two squabbling adversaries, had united for the good of the planet to help the world at Cop15 forge a once-in-a-decade deal to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems. From the emphasis on indigenous rights to conserving 30% of Earth for nature, there is good reason to believe the Kunming-Montreal agreement could be a truly historic, hopeful turning point in humanity’s relationship with nature after decades of destruction…
Tag: Cop15
Cop15 negotiators close to agreeing nature deal as talks draw to end
A potentially transformational agreement for nature is close to being reached at Cop15 in Montreal, which could bring better protection for Earth’s vital ecosystems such as the Amazon and Congo basin rainforests, big reforms to agriculture and better protection of indigenous territories and rights. After four years of negotiations and 12 years since the last biodiversity targets were agreed in Japan, the Chinese president of Cop15 put forward its recommendations for a final agreement after two weeks of intense negotiations at the UN biodiversity summit in Canada. Over the last…
Walkouts and tensions as row over finance threatens to derail Cop15 talks
Divisions between developed and developing nations over who should pay to protect Earth’s ecosystems are threatening to derail a UN biodiversity summit after a group of developing countries walked out of discussions overnight. In echoes of last month’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt – where countries agreed to create a new fund to compensate loss and damage from global heating in vulnerable nations – countries from the global south left Cop15 talks on Wednesday due to disagreements over finance. The Cop15 host, China, was organising crisis talks with heads of…
Cop15 negotiators have left their homework to the last minute – can they scrape a pass? | Patrick Greenfield
All procrastinators know the feeling: an enormous task is not close to being finished, time is slipping away and the pressure to act has become impossible to ignore. But despite the mounting unease, there is still not yet enough pressure to take action, and it is unclear if there ever will be. At the Palais des congrès de Montréal convention centre at Cop15, after more than two years of delays, there is a sense that governments tasked with agreeing this decade’s targets for protecting life on Earth are in just…
Canada leads calls for 30% for nature target as
Conserving 30% of Earth for nature would be equivalent to the 1.5C climate target, Canada’s environment minister has said, as senior UN figures warn action on nature loss at Cop15 this month is key to helping solve the biodiversity and climate crises. Steven Guilbeault, a former environmental activist who is now Canada’s climate minister, said that agreeing to conserve nearly a third of the planet by the end of the decade is a key aim for his country at the biodiversity summit, which is being held in Montreal over the…
Making sense of Cop15: what to look out for in Montreal
Planet Earth is enduring the largest loss of life since the time of the dinosaurs, according to scientists. This loss is being driven by human behaviour, and governments are split on how to respond. At Cop15 in Montreal, many of these divisions will come to a head as they negotiate this decade’s UN biodiversity targets, known as the global biodiversity framework – or “GBF” if you are an insider. From the key players to what’s on the table, here’s what you need to know to make sense of the summit.…
Canada and China prepare to open Cop15 biodiversity summit despite rifts
More than 10,000 scientists, government officials and activists will gather in Montreal this week for the world’s most important biodiversity conference, eager to hammer out a deal to stem habitat loss around the world and preserve sensitive ecosystems. The UN Cop15 biodiversity summit opens on Tuesday, and will see countries negotiate this decade’s targets for protecting nature after more than two years of pandemic-related delays and just over two weeks since the end of the Cop27 climate meeting in Egypt. There is growing hope that the summit will not only…