COP-15: The Once-in-a-Decade Plans to Protect the Natural World

Why is COP-15 important for all life on Earth? Plans to save the environment and stop its deterioration will be agreed upon once every ten years in Canada in December.

Illegal Logging in Protected Areas in Madagascar (IMAGE)

(Photo : Copyright Toby Smith)

Governments are preparing to set biodiversity objectives for the upcoming ten years, with only a few months till COP-15 in Montreal. Although the world has fallen short of any UN objectives for preventing the destruction of nature, awareness of the problem is higher than ever. Here, we look at the significance of this UN gathering and how it can usher in significant environmental action.

Also Read: Despite Efforts, Countries Failed to Reach Agreement on a UN Treaty Aimed to Protect Marine Life

What is COP-15?

Governments have been gathering for the past thirty years to assure the survival of the species and ecosystems that support human civilization. Three conventions were established during the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, each on climate change, desertification, and biodiversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) calls on nations to protect the environment, make sustainable use of, and distribute the advantages of its genetic resources.

Governments commit to setting biodiversity protection goals every ten years to achieve them by the decade's end. At Cop10 in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, states committed to, among other things, halving the loss of natural habitats and increasing nature reserves to 17% of the world's land area by 2020. They fell short in every way.

There are "ordinary" gatherings for governments to review their progress every two years. Cop15, or the conference of the parties convening for the fifteenth time, is taking place in Montreal and is "exceptional" since a new set of goals is being set.

Two Week Event

On December 7, the two-week meeting will begin in Montreal, Canada. China, however, will preside over Cop15 for the first time about a significant UN environmental deal. Due to repeated pandemic-related postponements and worries about convening an international meeting under Beijing's zero-Covid policy, the summit was shifted from its original location of Kunming, China.

A few weeks will pass after the climate Cop27 in Egypt before delegates meet in Montreal. Although talks sometimes run over the deadline, it is anticipated that the formal wording will be approved on Saturday, December 17, the night before the World Cup final in Qatar.

Climate Cops, the most recent Cop26 in Glasgow, are distinct from Cops on biodiversity. As agreed upon under the Paris Agreement in 2015, Climate Cops have a defined objective to keep global temperature increases to "well below" 2C over pre-industrial levels while trying to keep heating to 1.5C.

Protecting Biodiversity

The UN's biodiversity process does not now have a comparable north star. Governments will approve goals for the convention's three objectives-conservation, sustainable use, and sharing of the benefits of genetic resources-which can occasionally conflict and are frequently quite technical, even for those who negotiated the deal.

The post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the summit's final text, is expected to include more than 20 aims, ranging from commitments to combat invasive species to detailed guidelines for the use of synthetic biology.