Montreal could host the UN Biodiversity Conference COP15 in late summer or early fall if the health situation in China does not improve, says the executive secretary of the Convention on Diversity biological (CBD), Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, in Montreal on Tuesday afternoon.
If the city of Kunming in China is unable to host COP15 on biodiversity, which is due to take place in a few months, the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity is assessing Montreal’s chances of host the event at “8 out of 10”.
This is what Elizabeth Maruma Mrema replied to the CEO of the Foundation of Greater Montreal, Karel Mayrand, who questioned her on the subject during an exchange organized by the Council on International Relations of Montreal (CORIM ).
The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity kicked off in Kunming, China in the fall of 2021.
The event was held in a hybrid format, i.e. leaders participated online.
The second part of this conference should take place within a few months, but the health rules and the repeated confinement of large Chinese cities could force the United Nations to find a place other than Kunming.
“I say 8 (chances out of 10), because Montreal is the home of the Secretariat” of the Convention on Biological Diversity, indicated Elizabeth Maruma Mrema speaking of the organization which has its headquarters on Saint-Jacques Street.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the CBD secretary explained that China “remains the number one option” and as “there is pressure for the COP not to be postponed”, she explained that the United Nations ” were starting to look at other options”, and Montreal could be the “default option”, if “the government is ready to assume the cost”.
If China were to withdraw, the country that replaces it should “be ready to bear the costs” and organize the event fairly quickly, added the first African woman to be appointed secretary of the CDB.