Draft COP15 agreement demands $20 billion a year to aid biodiversity

According to the draft agreement published in Montreal, the host city of COP15 on Sunday (18), the UN proposes to increase financial aid to save nature to US$20 billion per year by 2025 and to US$30 billion by 2030. The text also calls on countries to “ensure and enable effective protection and management of at least 30% of their land areas, inland waters, coastal and marine waters by 2030”.

The draft agreement proposed by China, which chairs COP15 on biodiversity, has been swiftly celebrated by environmental organizations, but still needs to be ratified by the 196 signatories of the Convention on Biological Diversity before the end of the summit on Monday (19). ).

“China will now have to pursue the ambitions set out in this document and bring all undecided parties to the overwhelming global consensus that biodiversity loss is an urgent crisis that needs urgent action,” said Alfred DeGemmis of the Wildlife Conservation Society. However, DeGemmis also warned that much of the text focuses too much on 2050 actions rather than more immediate achievements for 2030.

At the conference, which started its work on December 7, the question of how much money the rich countries would give to the developing world, which is home to a large part of the biodiversity on the planet, was the most contentious point of the discussions.

Low-income countries draw attention to the fact that developed countries get rich by exploiting their resources. Therefore, they must be paid to protect their ecosystems.

Current aid to the developing world is approximately $10 billion per year. However, the aim expressed by the southern countries was 100 billion dollars.

The delegates attending the meeting are working on a historic agreement to reduce the destruction and pollution that threatens the extinction of nearly one million plant and animal species, according to scientists.

With information from AFP