Preserving biodiversity
COP15 has one major challenge: it must preserve biodiversity. The most important questions and answers about the UN conference.
The 15th UN Biodiversity Conference COP15 (Conference of the Parties) started in Montreal in Canada on 7 December 2022. The 196 member states of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be gathering there. The conference is scheduled to end on 19 December.
Why is biodiversity important?
Food, building materials, energy, pharmaceuticals – all of this comes from nature and is therefore vital for human survival. Scientists talk in this context of ecosystem services. They include not only things we take directly from nature, such as the products in the aforementioned areas, but also processes such as plant pollination and the storage of carbon dioxide or the production of oxygen.
Why is the conference important?
The loss of biodiversity is extreme. According to the UN, a million species are currently at risk of extinction. The rate of extinction thus exceeds the expected natural loss of species by a factor of 100. This is posing a massive threat to human livelihoods. The consequences of losing some species are also obvious to non-experts – the fact for example that many plants will no longer be pollinated or be able to produce fruit without bees. Every species has a role to play within its own ecosystem. COP15 has therefore set itself the challenge of halting species extinction.
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Open consent formHow important are tropical forests and nature reserves?
Tropical forests are treasure troves of biodiversity and home to roughly three quarters of all species However, they are also at extreme risk – that’s true of nearly all plant species there. Agriculture poses the biggest threat to forests. That’s why nature reserves are so important. Their use is regulated, they protect nature and give it the opportunity to recover. This applies to nature reserves worldwide, not only in the tropics.
Which hopes are pinned on COP15 CBD?
Like the UN Climate Change Conference that took place in Paris in 2015, it is hoped that COP15 will herald a trend reversal. The objective is to adopt four long-term targets to be achieved by 2050 and 20 short-term targets to be achieved by 2030. Perhaps the most important of them is the “30x30” target – to place 30 per cent of the Earth under protection by 2030. If the signatory states are able to agree on this goal, it will also have to be clarified how this is to be funded.
What is Germany’s position?
Germany supports the “30x30” target – in September 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York that Germany would make 1.5 billion euros per year available to this end from 2025 on. That is twice as much as before.
Germany is in any case strongly committed to the issue of biodiversity, including on an international level. The most important example of this is probably the “Legacy Landscapes Fund” (LLF) that Germany initiated to support the financing of conservation areas worldwide. Established by the KfW Development Bank on behalf of the Federal Government in 2020, it represents a concrete German contribution to COP15. The remit of the LLF is to preserve as many species as possible in biodiversity-rich but low-income regions of the world. Its goal is therefore to provide long-term support to at least 30 protected areas worldwide, making one million dollars per year available to each.
Interested in COP15 CBD? Detailed information can be found here.
