Negotiations for the signing of a global biodiversity protection agreement are entering a critical phase, one week before the end of the UN conference (COP15). If the subjects to be decided remain numerous, the issue of the financing necessary to preserve nature will be at the heart of the discussions, warned Tuesday the main players in the negotiations taking place in Montreal.
“The issue of resource mobilization is one of the key elements,” insisted the federal Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, during a press briefing.
“If we want ambition, countries like Canada must understand, and I think they understand, that ambition must be accompanied by funding,” he added, referring to the funds that will have to be granted to developing countries to help them meet international commitments to protect biodiversity.
As the delegations gathered at the Palais des Congrès prepare to enter the so-called “high-level” phase, with the arrival of the ministers responsible for fine-tuning the details of the international agreement, the demands of developing countries are becoming clearer . Brazil reiterated on Saturday, on behalf of the African continent and 14 other countries, including India and Indonesia, its demand for “financial subsidies of at least $100 billion per year or 1% of global GDP up to in 2030”.
This request would be, in the eyes of several observers, an essential condition for the conclusion of a “post-2020” framework which should make it possible to curb the unprecedented decline of biodiversity on a global scale. But this expected increase in funding is considered unrealistic by rich countries, for whom development aid dedicated to biodiversity in 2020 represented 10 billion dollars per year in 2020.
Without mentioning figures, since that is part of the negotiation, Minister Guilbeault said he preferred the idea of working with financing mechanisms that already exist, rather than turning to the creation of a new fund. “I don’t want us to wait years to create a fund to support countries,” he summed up.
The United States, even if it is not part of the negotiation, for lack of having ratified the Convention on Biodiversity, plays a crucial role in the financial equation likely to unblock the agreement. “We have replenished the Global Environment Facility this year, the US contribution has been greater than ever,” US Environment Ambassador Monica Medina said on Monday.
Hurry up
The question of the money that will be available, and which would represent billions of dollars of public and private investments, will be at the top of the list of priority subjects for the delegations, recognized on Tuesday the President of the COP15 and Chinese Minister for Ecology, Huang Runqiu. But several other issues remain to be settled and “we don’t have much time left”, he warned. Only five of the 22 or 23 objectives envisaged have so far been decided.
“The eyes of the world are watching us” and “we cannot disappoint,” added the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema. “Governments are progressing, but not fast enough to prepare a specific text for the arrival of ministers”, regretted Monday Alfred DeGemmis, senior official of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
It must be said that time is running out, recalled Minister Steven Guilbeault on Tuesday: a million species are threatened with extinction, a third of the land is seriously degraded, soil fertility and water purity compromised, while the oceans are endangered by pollution and global warming. “It is the future of life on Earth that is at the heart of our discussions”, launched the Canadian Minister of the Environment.