If the kick-off of COP15 was given last Tuesday, it is during the second week that serious things get underway at the International Conference on Biodiversity being held in Montreal. Canada and China will have a lot to do, however, to rally the 196 countries by next Sunday.
“This week could be a historic moment for nature and our common future. The Director General of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Marco Lambertini, set the bar very high, at a press conference on Monday morning at 6e day of COP15 in Montreal. “Nature holds the keys to several solutions to problems in our societies,” he added.
“I’m more optimistic now. Progress has been made,” said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which organizes COP15, in a press briefing on Monday. “The number of hooks [points en litige] decreases every day. »
“The second week is crucial. But there are positive signs. There is a kind of feverishness in the air”, indicated to The Press Anne-Céline Guyon, climate project manager at Nature Québec.
More than a hundred ministers from many countries are also expected by Wednesday. They are the ones who will conclude the final negotiations in view of a possible agreement for a new global framework on biodiversity.
Leadership led by China and Canada
According to Eddy Perez, director of climate diplomacy at the Climate Action Network, what happens next will largely depend on the collaboration between China, which chairs this COP15, and Canada, which is the host country.
“Coordination between Canada and China is what could help make all ministers more comfortable [dans les négociations] “, he explained, adding that “Canada must use its influence”.
“It’s a bit historic. These are things that you don’t see at the G20,” Mr. Perez said of the good understanding that seems to reign between the two countries for this international conference. “I have signs that they are talking to each other,” he says.
Both China and Canada play this role [de coordination]. We see good leadership. Behind the scenes, a lot is happening thanks to the leadership of China and Canada.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
This coordination between the two countries will be crucial until the very end, however, underlines Eddy Perez. “If it ever breaks, it’s problematic. »
“With the arrival of the ministers, we are entering an extremely political period,” he adds.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault told The Press last week that he was following the progress of the discussions on a daily basis.
“I meet my Chinese counterpart [le président de la COP15] almost every day. I spoke to several of my counterparts who are not necessarily here, who will arrive [la semaine prochaine], to ask them to give clear instructions to their delegations here to move things forward. So if you put it all together, I remain optimistic. »
PHOTO ANDREJ IVANOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
In order: Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu, Deputy Secretary of Chengdu City Municipal Committee Ruiwu Xie and Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, Saturday, on the sidelines of COP15
On Tuesday morning, Steven Guilbeault and the Chinese Minister of the Environment, Huang Runqi, who chairs COP15, will also take stock of the state of the negotiations, 24 hours before the official arrival of ministers representing more than 100 countries. .
“We arrived at this COP really worried about the delays in the negotiations. But there was additional pressure from civil society,” said Anne-Céline Guyon of Nature Québec.
“The last 48 hours will be crucial,” she adds.
Points of contention
If optimism is there, there are still several points in dispute to be settled in the coming days.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema clarified on Monday that all the figures and quantified targets of the draft agreement “are in parentheses”, which means that no agreement has been reached to date. “These discussions are going to be difficult,” she said.
This means, for example, that there is still no agreement on the key objective, that of protecting 30% of the territory by 2030.
This is also the case for Goal 7, which plans to reduce pesticide use by half or two-thirds by 2030. Goal 18, on the other hand, plans to eliminate subsidies harmful to biodiversity in US$500 billion globally.
Is an agreement possible before December 19, the last official day of COP15 at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal? Elizabeth Maruma Mrema clarified that unlike the climate COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, her organization could not so easily prolong the negotiations in Montreal.
“Leaders need to focus on what is needed and what the science tells us. Otherwise, we’ll just carry on as usual [business as usual] “says Marco Lambertini, of the WWF.