UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 15)
![[Translate to English:]](/fileadmin/_processed_/6/9/csm_nashorn_mutter_jungtier_kp_1200_7b679c24a7.jpg)
The 15th UN Biodiversity Conference took place from 7 to 19 December 2022 in Montreal, Canada. The conference aimed to herald a turning point, moving from the destruction of nature to its restoration. It concluded with the adoption of a new Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). A key goal of the new Framework is to effectively protect at least 30 percent of global terrestrial and marine areas by 2030.
The rights of indigenous peoples and local communities will be respected in the process. It was also agreed that the risks posed to humans and the environment by pesticides and hazardous chemicals will be cut in half by 2030, while reducing subsidies harmful to the environment. To enable global monitoring of the state of nature and to identify whether the targets have been achieved, the agreement introduces for the first time standardised indicators as part of a monitoring framework. Provisions were also made for corrective action, if countries fail to achieve the targets. Countries in the Global South will also receive annual support totalling 20 billion US dollars until 2025 to help them implement the new Framework, with this annual sum rising to 30 billion US dollars for the period up to 2030.
The aim is for the loss of biodiversity to be halted and the trend reversed by 2030. To achieve this, the international community adopted four long-term goals for 2050 and 23 medium-term targets for 2030. These include halving food waste and the spread of invasive species by 2030. Countries must also ensure that companies and financial institutions disclose their detrimental impacts on biodiversity.
The Montreal Conference was preceded by the first part of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) in Kunming, China, in October 2021. In parallel, the 10th meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the fourth meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising from their Utilization was held.
Supporting implementation of the Global Framework
Additional funding will be needed to implement the Framework. That is why the goal is to mobilise 200 billion US dollars worldwide every year until 2030 to protect biodiversity. Incentives that are damaging to biodiversity, including subsidies, will also be reduced. To specifically support developing countries with implementation, a new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund was established by the Global Environment Facility.
Countries in the Global South will receive 20 billion US dollars a year up to 2025 to help them implement the new Framework, with this sum rising to 30 billion a year for the period up to 2030. At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022 Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged that Germany would give more than one billion euros to fund international biodiversity measures as of 2025.
To support the countries of the Global South with the development and implementation of their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), a new partnership was launched at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal. Germany will provide a total of 29 million euros for the initial start-up phase of this NBSAP Accelerator Partnership.
New multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism for digital sequence information
The conference also decided to establish a multilateral mechanism for sharing benefits from the use of digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources. To generate DSI, the DNA of a living organism is decoded, presented as a string of letters, and this sequence is stored digitally. DSI is used in pure research but also for commercial purposes, financial gain or profit. These benefits will be fairly and equitably shared and used to conserve and sustainably manage biodiversity. To this end the benefit-sharing mechanism will be further developed and operationalised using a fair, transparent, inclusive process. The mechanism will be finalised by the 16th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP 16).
Latest on CBD COP 15
Germany's core interests
Germany’s main goal for the conference in Montreal is to ensure that the global framework adopted there includes, first, ambitious, measurable targets and, second, effective mechanisms that ensure the targets are monitored and implemented, with appropriate financing.
Ambitious, measurable targets
The Federal Government is pursuing three priorities:
1. More and above all better managed protected areas
30x30x30: The agreement needs to contain a binding target for all countries to place at least 30 percent of the land and sea under protection by 2030. This would be roughly double the current protected area on land and four times that at sea. This does not mean that all of these areas would become zero use. Truly sustainable use can also help support protection, for example as in biosphere reserves.
It is important to underpin this target with standards for effective management and fair governance of protected areas. These areas should not just be protected on paper. It is also necessary to have effective management that includes indigenous people and local communities on site.
2. Less pollution
Protected areas cannot be left as isolated islands. Pollution and destruction of our nature must be stopped on a large scale, not just in protected areas. For this reason, the global framework should also set targets on improving resource efficiency and circular economy.
This type of goal includes the EU’s proposal to establish measurable targets for reducing nutrient input in ecosystems and pesticide use in agriculture. Similarly, we need to end plastic pollution. This is very ambitious, but a good basis for further negotiations. The UNEA resolution for a global agreement on plastic has blazed a trail for us on the issue of plastic waste.
3. Restoring nature
The global framework needs to ensure the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Healthy, stable ecosystems are like life insurance that also ensures our survival. Degraded ecosystems, for example deforested areas, must be restored to a near-natural state. The Federal Government therefore supports, for example, the target to restore at least 3 billion hectares each of degraded land and marine ecosystems. This is an area roughly the size of the continent of Africa on both land and sea respectively.
Effective monitoring mechanisms to ensure implementation of the framework
To truly drive change, the targets agreed in the global framework must be clear, concrete, ambitious and measurable.
The world community already adopted biodiversity targets once, in 2010 in Aichi, Japan. Not one of these targets was fully achieved. For this reason, the focus in Montreal is on effective monitoring and implementation mechanisms.
To achieve this, the global framework must be translated into national targets via the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and must be underpinned with implementation measures. Additionally, the countries should agree on regular and reliable reporting based on uniform headline indicators. This ensures comparability across countries. The Global Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which describe the worldwide status of biodiversity, will complement the national reports.
A mechanism for raising ambition should be triggered when reporting shows that the global targets will probably not be achieved. For example, the NBSAPs must then be revised and made more ambitious or additional implementation measures adopted.
Solid financing for implementing the global framework
The protection and restoration of ecosystems costs money. Funds need to be mobilised around the world, from government budgets and private sources, both nationally and internationally. It is clear that the industrialised countries must meet their responsibilities and increase support for the Global South by the conference.
Germany is doubling its funding: By 2025 at the latest, Germany will make 1.5 billion euros available per year for international measures to preserve biodiversity. This sum is double the roughly 750 million euros per year that were invested on average from 2017 to 2021. The other G7 countries also declared their readiness to significantly increase international funds for nature by 2025 at the G7 summit at the end of June. The BMUV will implement its part of the funding via the International Climate Initiative (IKI). Pledges to projects or initiatives that promote the concrete implementation of the global framework are also needed. Germany, for example, is funding the Nature for Health Multi-Partner Trust Fund via the IKI. With the fund, we want to bring the prevention of future pandemics to the fore by improving the health of people, animals, plants and ecosystems. The German government will provide 50 million euros in seed capital from the International Climate Initiative to help with practical implementation.
However, we must also tackle the issue of areas where our use of financial resources endangers biodiversity. Subsidies that contribute to the destruction of nature must be dismantled and redirected. For this, we urgently need clear decisions from COP 15 that address effective implementation in a stronger way than others have to date.
The BMUV views a new global biodiversity fund critically. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is the financing mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Instead of creating new structures, we should continue to use this mechanism and, where necessary, improve the work of the GEF.
