World leaders from more than 180 countries met in Montreal, Canada, from December 7-19 for the CoP 15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
The leaders agreed that biodiversity is fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet and economic prosperity for all and developed a global biodiversity framework that seeks to respond to the Global Assessment Report of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services issued by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
This report says 25 per cent of animal and plant groups are threatened, with a million species facing extinction with the risk of acceleration in the global rate, already tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years. The framework contains targets to save species and protect their habitats, including increasing areas of land and sea under approaches that safeguard biodiversity, such as protected areas, key biodiversity areas and other effective conservation measures.
But insufficient money has been a perennial problem for conservation; developing countries and indigenous communities, particularly, suffer serious lack of financial resources. For example, the government has been unable to compensate for loss due to wildlife damage on livestock, crops and human life.
The developed nations have been importing biodiversity loss through their consumption patterns that are responsible for 50 per cent of biodiversity loss in developing countries. That is why developing countries are requesting for $100 billion which is 50 per cent of the $200 billion gap. To achieve this, Kenya, speaking for Africa, requested for a dedicated Global Biodiversity Fund that is complementary to the Global Environment Facility, the traditional funding mechanism for the Convention.
But there was an impasse. Negotiators failed to agree. The CoP president escalated the negotiations to the Ministers level. On December 18, the CoP president produced a compromise text where the developing countries would only take home the work to save the planet without the means to achieve the ambition.
Developed countries will increase funding from less than $10 billion to $20 billion in 2025 and $30 billion by 2030. But $170 billion annually will have to come from developing countries and business.
CoP 15 came to an end on December 19 but life on earth is unassured. The ability of the planet to meet human needs will continue to be in jeopardy. Floods, droughts, hunger, water shortages and human diseases will continue. The economic agenda of most nations is in danger.
Brace for a tougher future. There is no reason to believe that extinction of species will reduce or that people can survive without biodiversity.
Dr Matiku, PhD, is the executive director, Nature Kenya–the East Africa Natural History Society. [email protected]
