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| Final COP15 Decision Plenary at Montreal |
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, due to the pandemic, has been four years in the making, was finally adopted in Montreal in the early hours of the morning on the 19th December 2022.
This is the 'Montreal moment' for the Biodiversity crisis and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the equivalent of the 'Paris moment' for the UNFCCC and the climate crisis.
Like the Paris Agreement, it is far from being perfect. The consensus process means that much compromise is entailed in reaching a global agreement.
It sets mission goals for 2030 and 2050 to arrest loss of ecosystems and conserve species numbers. It includes an ambitious 30 per cent of land and 30 per cent of ocean for conservation by 2030. This is a step in the right direction, although recent science says that between 44 per cent (1) or 50 percent of land (2) may be necessary to protect to meet the mission statement.
The Package also includes reform of $500bn (£410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and halt pollution that damages ecosystems by the end of the decade. Countries from the global north would contribute $30bn a year for conservation by the end of the decade.
Strong language for the protection of indigenous rights and territories emphasised throughout the 23 specific targets and four goals that make up the main agreement, known as the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
While a separate Biodiversity Fund was not agreed, there was a compromise plan to create a new financing mechanism for biodiversity housed under the UN’s Global Environment Facility (GEF).
