Scientists have expressed themselves clearly about the seriousness. Man’s pollution and destruction of natural areas has led to the survival of around a million plant and animal species being threatened. That is why the COP15 nature summit in Montreal, Canada was also considered to be the “last chance” to get nature on the right course towards restoration towards 2030 and 2050. When the meeting was opened, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that humanity itself has become a ” weapons of mass destruction”. We are simply a danger to ourselves and life on the planet. He therefore urged the countries of the world to enter into a “pact of peace with nature”. On the last day of the meeting, the agreement fell into place, after several years of negotiations. More than 190 countries signed (not the United States and the Vatican). The result has been called “historic” by several environmentalists. According to Professor Carsten Rahbek from the Department of Biological Diversity at the University of Copenhagen, the agreement does not quite live up to being called “a Paris agreement for biological diversity”, as was proposed before the negotiations. Nevertheless, he is very positive. – The agreement is ambitious in a wide range of areas and is a big step in the right direction. In light of the fact that we are all a bit tired after a few years with the corona and now with the economic crisis, I think the level of ambition in the agreement is fantastic, he says. Ambitious, but not entirely tangible The agreement lists a large number of goals that the countries of the world must achieve by 2030. One of the most important is the effective protection of at least 30 percent of the world’s land and sea areas, with particular emphasis on areas of great importance to biological diversity and the functions and characteristics of ecosystems. At the time of writing, only 17 percent of the world’s land areas and 10 percent of marine areas are considered protected. A further 30 per cent of the planet’s degraded or degraded land, inland waters, coasts and maritime ecosystems must be restored. When Carsten Rahbek does not want to describe the agreement as “a Paris Agreement for biological diversity”, it is because it is not entirely suitable as a tool for finding out how much of a country’s nature can be said to be protected. – Most people probably have a pretty good idea of what “protected nature” means, but the level of detail is the agreement’s biggest challenge. It’s a bit fluffy. You agree on the overall goals, but how it should be measured and reported that you have protected e.g. 30 per cent in its nature is largely based on what the countries themselves say they are doing, says Rahbek. More from the rich to the poor In the agreement, emphasis is placed on nature conservation to take particular account of indigenous people’s areas and cultures. It also ensures that more money flows from the world’s richest countries to the poorest. Therefore, it is also of enormous importance for the financing of rescue efforts for biological diversity in developing countries, which are home to the greatest biological diversity on earth. The agreement means that from 2030 USD 30 billion will be used annually for nature conservation in the developing countries. There is also a call to spend 20 billion dollars annually until 2025 to ensure biodiversity. At the time of writing, around ten billion dollars are spent annually. – The rich countries have become very rich from over-consumption of the earth’s resources, including from tropical areas. So just as with the climate, many countries will have compensation for not exploiting their own natural areas. At this point, we have taken a significant step in the right direction with the agreement – but not on target, says Rahbek. Another important goal in the agreement is to halve the global amount of food waste annually and to significantly reduce overconsumption, the amounts of waste and the use of dangerous chemicals and pesticides.
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Professor on the new agreement to save the planet’s endangered species: – A big step in the right direction
