United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada
Key negotiating issues defined and detailed: A COP15 Primer
On Nov. 10, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, David Cooper and David Ainsworth, respectively the Executive Secretary, Deputy Executive Secretary and Information Officer of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, conducted an interactive media briefing on the UN Biodiversity Conference (Montreal Dec. 7-19), including COP 15. They detailed the purpose, scope, structure, objectives, and what to expect. Recording: https://youtu.be/WWHl_Xaa-Os
Confronting the greatest loss of species on Earth since the dinosaurs’ demise, the world community convenes in Montreal in December under the auspices of the United Nations with the aim of adopting a new Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) with ambitious goals and specific action targets and timetables to achieve transformational change by the middle of the century.
At the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, Dec. 7-19, chaired by China in Montreal’s Palais des Congrès, representatives of almost every nation are called on to finalize and approve measures to arrest the dangerous, ongoing loss of terrestrial and marine biodiversity and set humanity on a path to a sustainable relationship with nature — with clear indicators to measure progress and adequate resources for implementation.
The measures include enhancing the capacity of every nation to implement the framework, the delivery of new financial support and the redirection of harmful subsidies that damage biodiversity.
There is much to do to finalize the GBF (current draft: https://bit.ly/3E1arxr). Just prior to the Biodiversity Conference, negotiators will meet in Montreal from 3-5 December for last-minute pre-COP 15 Working Group discussion on the draft text. To facilitate this deliberation, WG Co-Chairs prepared, through an Informal Group Meeting, a streamlined text (available at https://bit.ly/3zKkV1X).
Says Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: “What’s at stake are the fundamentals of human existence. Biodiverse, well-balanced ecosystems provide climate moderation, fertile soil and foods, clean water, modern drugs, and the foundation of our economies.
“Nearly half of humanity depends directly on natural resources for livelihoods and, in many cases, their daily subsistence needs.”
Land and sea-use change, over exploitation, climate change, invasive species and pollution, she notes, are the foremost causes of nature’s decline, according to the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity, which warned that one million plant and animal species face extinction within decades – a rate of loss 1,000 times greater than natural.
In the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “We face a triple planetary crisis. A climate emergency that is killing and displacing ever more people each year. Ecosystems degradation that are escalating the loss of biodiversity and compromising the well-being of more than 3 billion people. And a growing tide of pollution and waste that is costing some 9 million lives a year.”
“We need to change course — now — and end our senseless and suicidal war against nature. We know what to do. And, increasingly, we have the tools to do it. But we still lack leadership and cooperation.”
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen noted that, while progress has been made in the past, only six of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets set in 2010 were partially met at a global level by the 2020 deadline.
“We need to do better,” she said. “The health of nature underpins our own health and well-being. And by recognizing nature as a crucial ally, we can unleash human innovation in the service of sustainability and move towards the agreed vision of living in harmony with nature.”
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COP 15, key objectives:
- Raise ambition for nature and ensure whole of government and whole of society implementation of a new global plan to put nature on the path to recovery by 2030, and humanity on a path to its globally-agreed vision of “Living in Harmony with Nature by 2050”
- Link the nature/biodiversity and climate agendas. Meeting GBF goals will contribute to the climate agenda while full delivery of the Paris Agreement is needed to ensure the GBF’s success
- Match commitments with accountable actions and resources to implement the framework
- Engage public, private and philanthropic sectors to close by 2030 the biodiversity finance gap, estimated to be around $700 billion USD a year, align trillions of dollars in global spending with goals for biodiversity, and ensure biodiversity is considered in economic decisions. Reform, redirect or end subsidies that harm biodiversity. (UNEP has reported that investments in ecosystems-based approaches need to at least triple by 2030 and increase four-fold by 2050.)
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Agenda / other official documents
Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework
5th Meeting (Montreal, 3-5 December)
https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020/wg2020-05/documents
UN Biodiversity Conference (Montreal, 7-19 December)
- 15th meeting of Parties to the CBD (COP-15)
- 10th meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COP-MOP 10)
- 4th meeting of Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP-MOP 4)
https://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022
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Key issues closely linked to the GBF:
Progress against the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (2010-2020)
Parties will conduct a final review of progress on the 20 biodiversity targets established in 2010, findings reported in the 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook in 2020, and options to improve planning, progress monitoring, reporting and reviews.
Digital Sequence Information
Information on the genetic sequences of biological resources has many commercial and non-commercial applications, such as pharmaceutical product development, improved crop breeding, taxonomy, and monitoring of invasive species.
The relationship between Digital Sequence Information (DSI) and existing world agreements on access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing is a source of intense interest and Parties will consider options based the work of the Working Group on the post 2020 global biodiversity framework and informal consultations. https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/c064/37f6/d5024789093ef19bf5f84519/wg2020-05-03-en.pdf
A positive outcome on DSI could greatly aid the sustained conservation and use of biodiversity at the local, national, and international levels.
Finance
COP 15 will develop a plan to increase the mobilization of financial resources to support the implementation of the framework. The Framework itself will include goals and targets on finance.
COP 15 will also review the implementation of the Global Environment Facility, the Convention’s financial mechanism.
Stronger planning, reporting, and review mechanisms
Parties are expected to adopt a stronger, multi-dimensional approach to planning, monitoring, reporting and reviewing CBD implementation.
An annex to the GBF is expected to contain headline indicators for national monitoring of implementation. Also foreseen: the establishment of a technical expert group on GBF indicators.
Traditional Knowledge and IPLCs
At earlier meetings, CBD Parties adopted important tools and guidance to safeguard traditional knowledge and promote sustainable use of biodiversity.
COP 15 topics include a new work programme and institutional arrangements related to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) to position them as GBF implementing partners.
Parties will also consider recommendations to study indigenous peoples’ contributions to ecosystems management and biodiversity protection, the rights of indigenous peoples and the emerging rights of local communities.
Gender
The draft GBF emphasizes that its successful implementation will depend on ensuring gender equality, empowering women and girls, greater access to education, and respecting the principle of intergenerational equity.
It also includes a plan of action to ensure equal access to resources, services and technologies to support women’s engagement in the governance, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Capacity building and development, and technical and scientific cooperation
Parties will negotiate long-term frameworks for capacity-building and development and how to strengthen technical and scientific cooperation. The goal: more effective promotion, sharing and utilization of science, technology and innovation to support GBF implementation.
Cooperation with other conventions, international organizations, and initiatives
Parties will focus on cooperation with other conventions, international organizations and initiatives to implement the GBF.
The CBD Secretariat has identified substantive thematic and cross-cutting interests including capacity-building, information and knowledge management, monitoring and reporting, and communications.
Proposed efforts include an Issue Management Group on Biodiversity of the Environment Management Group (EMG) of the UN through 2030.
Protected and conserved areas
The GBF is expected to include an ambitious target to protect and conserve terrestrial and marine areas beyond the current 17% and 10% respectively.
At their meeting in 2018, CBD Parties agreed that, in addition to conventional protected areas such as parks, “other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs)” would count towards the target’s fulfillment as they also contribute to multiple benefits and co-benefits. OECMs will be considered in a flexible way on a case-by-case basis.
Meanwhile, governments and other relevant organizations were encouraged to collaborate with indigenous peoples, local communities and others to identify areas that improve connectivity, ecological representativity, and key areas important for biodiversity.
Other key issues
Biosafety and Living Modified Organisms / Cartagena Protocol
CBD’s Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which entered into force in 2003, governs the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) between countries.
In December, the Protocol’s 173 Parties are expected to advance an implementation plan, including capacity building, that is anchored on and complementary to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
Synthetic biology
At COP 15, discussions will include the potential of synthetic biology to address global challenges and what is needed to ensure its safe use. Parties will discuss horizon scanning, monitoring and assessment to understand what is in development and to assess potential impacts on biodiversity. This process would complement the work on risk assessment under the Cartagena Protocol.
A recent CBD publication offers further information:https://bit.ly/3SOKhT5
Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) / the Nagoya Protocol
Significant progress has been made under the Nagoya Protocol since its 2014 entry into force but greater efforts are needed for effective implementation. In Montreal, the related agenda includes a review of:
- national reporting
- the capacity-building framework
- a proposed global multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism
- the global financial support mechanism, and
- operations of the ABS clearing-house
These considerations intersect notably with highly important questions about if and how the benefits of digital sequence information on genetic resources should be shared.
ABS is deeply linked to GBF goals and targets, such as those relating to business, indigenous peoples and local communities, traditional knowledge, and resource mobilization.
Parties will also need to agree how to monitor ABS-related elements of the GBF, including standardized information on monetary and non-monetary benefits.
Climate change
Recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports show land-use changes raise greenhouse gas emissions, reduce carbon sequestration, lower biodiversity and ecosystem resiliency and more.
Addressing excessive meat consumption and other consumer patterns would mitigate both biodiversity loss and climate change. And investing in ecosystem restoration, agricultural and pasture lands rehabilitation, and sustainable agricultural productivity can combat climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity at the same time.
At COP15, Parties will consider the CBD Secretariat’s summary of recent papers on this topic, while its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) has prepared recommendations, detailed at https://adobe.ly/3BXujzw
Invasive alien species
Parties will consider strategies to prevent and reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by 50%, and to control or eradicate such species.
Agriculture
Parties will adopt a global action plan for the conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity prepared by the CBD Secretariat, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) and other specialized organizations.
The GBF will set important targets to elevate sustainable food systems on the global agenda and ensure sustainable agricultural management by reducing pollution and pesticide use, mitigating the loss of nutrients, encouraging responsible choices to reduce food waste and overconsumption, and conserving genetic diversity, including by monitoring plant genetic resources critical for agriculture.
Health
Health is a cross-cutting theme in the GBF. At the summit in Montreal, Parties will consider an updated global action plan recommended by CBD’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), detailed here.
The current draft of the GBF acknowledges that its sound implementation will strive to generate co-benefits – biodiversity-inclusive One Health approach. Health is also a cross-cutting theme in GBF targets 5, 12 and others.
Sustainable Wildlife Management
CBD Parties are encouraged to establish and maintain strong regulatory systems to differentiate between subsistence uses and illegal hunting, to incentivise sustainable consumption, to strengthen the capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities to exercise their rights and responsibilities in sustainable wildlife management; and to minimize the impacts of illegal hunting.
Parties need to agree on ways to ensure that the supply of wild meat is sustainably and legally managed at the source, reduce demand for unsustainably managed and/or illegal wild meat, and create an enabling environment for the sustainable management of wild meat.
At COP 15, Parties will examine how to recover and conserve species and the genetic diversity of wild and domesticated species, including through conservation beyond natural habitats, and how to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
Ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs)
Work on EBSAs represents an international achievement, covering nearly all parts of the global ocean, but further progress is needed. Climate change and other major drivers of biodiversity loss are rapidly transforming many marine ecosystems and affecting many EBSAs.
Parties will consider how to modify existing EBSA descriptions and 17 proposed EBSA descriptions in the North-East Atlantic Ocean region.
Conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity
Parties will discuss the role of marine, coastal and island biodiversity and implications of the GBF for related work programmes, including:
- underwater noise, marine debris, area-based conservation, marine spatial planning, and coral reef and cold-water ecosystem management
- synergies and cooperation with other international processes, and
- progress on capacity building and regional collaboration under the Sustainable Ocean Initiative.
Nature and culture
Summit outcomes will include ways to leverage the relationship between nature and culture to enhance GBF implementation.
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See also: A Nature Positive Narrative, UNEP, 2021
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Media Coverage Highlights
The Guardian, United Kingdom: Cop27 must pave the way for ‘a Paris moment’ for nature, says UN https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/11/cop27-must-pave-the-way-for-a-paris-moment-for-nature-cop15-says-un
Agencia EFE, via Infobae Argentina: ONU confía en un acuerdo en Montreal para impedir la pérdida de biodiversidad https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2022/11/10/onu-confia-en-un-acuerdo-en-montreal-para-impedir-la-perdida-de-biodiversidad/
Presse Canadienne, Canada: COP15: des centaines de milliards de dollars pour protéger la nature http://syndication.thecanadianpress.com/rss/3cffd932-dfd2-4774-ac04-e3deeb0cc7a3/9f2cd8cf-8dc8-4f99-959c-4f992928378a
Le Devoir Canada: Les négociations sur la biodiversité s’annoncent ardues à la COP15 de Montréal https://www.ledevoir.com/environnement/770314/les-negociations-sur-la-biodiversite-s-annoncent-ardues-a-la-cop15-de-montreal
ICI Radio-Canada, Canada: COP15 : aucun chef d’État et des centaines de milliards à trouver pour protéger la nature https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1931952/cop15-centaines-milliards-proteger-nature
BFM TV (via MSN France), France: COP de la diversité: un sommet crucial pour la planète boudé par les chefs d’État https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/monde/cop-de-la-diversit%c3%a9-un-sommet-crucial-pour-la-plan%c3%a8te-boud%c3%a9-par-les-chefs-d%c3%a9tat/ar-AA13Ysob
Xinhua French: Plus de 10.000 personnes attendues à la deuxième phase de la COP15 à Montréal (ONU) https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/actualite/monde/multim%c3%a9dia-plus-de-10000-personnes-attendues-%c3%a0-la-deuxi%c3%a8me-phase-de-la-cop15-%c3%a0-montr%c3%a9al-onu/ar-AA13YRNO
FAZ, Germany: Die Natur muss ohne Staatschefs gerettet werden https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/zur-biodiversitaetskonferenz-in-montreal-kommen-keine-staatschefs-18455284.html
Down to Earth, India
Over 10,000 to attend UN biodiversity convention next month
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/over-10-000-to-attend-un-biodiversity-convention-next-month-85927
Full release, click here