Shortly before the end of the World Conservation Summit in Montreal, Canada, the chances of a joint final declaration on species protection being passed have increased. After the Chinese Presidency had presented a first draft for such a declaration, a plenary session was scheduled for late in the evening (local time) with the aim of approving the paper, which, however, was pushed back further and further. Negotiations continued behind the scenes.
Observers also believed that the declaration could be passed on Monday, which was officially the last day of the summit. Organizers, scientists and representatives of non-governmental organizations continued to hope for a trend-setting global agreement – similar to the Paris climate protection agreement.
Included in the draft is one of the previously announced key goals, the goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s land and sea areas by 2030. In addition, more money should be spent on protecting biodiversity. Among other things, richer countries are to give poorer countries around 20 billion dollars a year by 2025.
Lemke describes the design as “brave”
Initial reactions to the draft were mixed. Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) described the paper as “brave”. It contains “many points that point in the right direction,” said Lemke. The environmental foundation WWF also spoke of a “surprisingly promising draft agreement”.
The nature conservation foundation WCS, on the other hand, criticized that the draft was not ambitious enough and that many goals were planned too far into the future. Greenpeace criticized the draft as “weak” and a delegation of young participants initially criticized the document’s “lack of ambition”.
The 15th UN Meeting on Conservation of Nature (COP15) will take place under the Chinese Presidency, but at the seat of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal. The summit was originally planned for 2020 in China. However, it was postponed and split up because of the corona pandemic. The first part took place in October, mainly online, in Kunming, China, and the second is now taking place in Montreal.
