Today it breaks loose. Barely two weeks after being gathered at the climate summit in Egypt, the world’s leaders will meet again. This time to adopt a global nature agreement. – Nature is man’s best friend. Without nature, we are nothing, says UN Secretary-General António Guterres. In his opening address, Guterres says that humanity has been at war with nature, but that we have an opportunity to stop the destruction of nature. – It is time to create a peace agreement with nature. All the member states of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity must adopt a new ten-year agreement on how to preserve biological diversity. – This is the decade’s most important meeting for nature, says Mari Aarønæs of the environmental organization Sabima. There is a lot at stake at this meeting, according to the UN, 1 million species are at risk of extinction. In the same report, 145 experts concluded that the loss of nature is as big a threat as climate change. Overconsumption of natural resources is one of the biggest causes. Believe in a historic agreement – We want a Paris agreement for nature, says Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide to news. The aim of the nature summit is to get a historic agreement in place, the aim of which will be to secure a turnaround for nature loss, writes the UN. And the hope for getting an ambitious agreement in place has never been greater. – We believe that we will reach the goal with an agreement that will really make a difference. We see that there is strong motivation to reach the goal, so we have faith, says expert advisor for nature at the Forum for Development and the Environment, Ingrid Rostad. Espen Barth Eide also believes that the world will reach its goal, and achieve good overall goals, but believes that there is still a lot of work to be done. – We must also have good action plans and concrete mechanisms to see how the countries work to achieve the goals. Protection targets Many countries, such as Norway, have ambitions to put in place a point in the agreement that at least 30 per cent of sea and land areas must be under conservation or protection by 2030. This is a target over 100 countries have come together if desired, also Norway. But here the devil is in the details. Because the countries disagree about how they should protect, how strictly they should protect, and what kind of exceptions should be allowed for. PROTECTION: The point about protection is important, but Rostad believes that protection should be representative, meaning that all types of nature are protected. Photo: Eivind Molde / news – It is very easy to protect a rock pile without any financial interests, but if protection is to succeed, you must also protect the areas that it costs to protect, and where you would like to have economic activity, says Rostad. Sustainable consumption Even if you protect or preserve 30 percent of nature, it is also a requirement from several countries that the rest of nature must be sustainably managed. According to Sabima, overconsumption is the biggest threat to nature. – We must stop and reverse the destruction of nature, says Aarønæs. They believe that a good agreement must address the underlying causes of the natural crisis. Fragmentation and land use changes – driven by agriculture and urban sprawl – lead to 80 percent of biodiversity loss in many areas, writes the UN. – It is very important that this agreement also works together with indigenous peoples and local communities who have worked for decades to take care of nature already, says Rostad. WORK: Espen Barth Eide believes that we will get an agreement with high ambitions, but that a lot of work remains. Photo: Truls Alnes Antonsen / news Financing And then there was the question of financing, which we recognize from the climate summit. In order to achieve the goals of sustainable consumption and protection, one has to have a financing arrangement for these. The questions here are going to be difficult, it depends on, among other things, how much the countries will commit to, who will give money and who will receive. – We see that there is a very clear line of conflict between north and south, which is about who will foot the bill for the new agreement, says Rostad. A number of developing countries have been clear that they need insurance for financing in order to be able to commit to the agreement. The use of genetic material from animals and plants (including in medicines) is also a controversial topic. African countries want an arrangement where money from the use of this is set aside for a fund for nature conservation in developing countries. Norway and South Africa are leading the negotiations on this point.
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Want a Paris agreement for nature – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
