The European Union and Canada are encouraged by the progress made in the last few days at COP15 in Montreal, but members of civil society are imploring delegates to work harder if countries are to agree on a declaration of here at the end of the week.
Frankie the dinosaur, the mascot of a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) campaign against fossil fuel subsidies, burst into the room reserved for press conferences on Monday at COP15 in Montreal.
According to the UNDP press agency, the visit of the velociraptor was intended to urge world leaders to protect nature and biodiversity, to fight against climate change and not to let more species disappear.
It’s a long shot, but Frankie the dinosaur will no doubt be able to find some positive elements in the statements of some delegates on Monday, who mentioned that negotiations to deal with the biodiversity crisis have made progress.
A “constructive spirit”
European Union director-general for the environment Florika Fink-Hooijer said she was “very hopeful” because of the “constructive spirit” of delegates gathered at COP15.
“It is progressing, if you look there is a lot of finalized text, and that gives us hope”, indicated the European representative, adding “that before the ministers arrive on Thursday”, there is still time “ to do the technical work.
The 196 countries gathered in Montreal must agree within a week to put in place the global framework that will make it possible to curb the decline of biodiversity.
A draft of the declaration is due to be presented to ministers from the various countries on Thursday, when the so-called “high-level segment” begins where political representatives will work to put the final touches on the agreement.
But until then, delegates should agree on as many goals as possible and make the draft text as clear as possible.
“Our hope is that by the time the ministers arrive on Wednesday we will have about 80% clear text,” a Canadian official told The Canadian Press.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told The Canadian Press in an interview Monday that during formal negotiations on Saturday, the text became about 35% clearer, with fewer words in brackets among the 22 targets. .
How to finance US$700 billion?
At a press conference, a spokeswoman for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) pointed out that there were positive conversations around certain objectives, including the flagship proposal which aims to protect 30% of land and waters of the planet by 2030.
But Lucia Ruiz Bustos, WWF’s biodiversity and finance coordinator in Mexico, said negotiations appear to be stalled over how the world will fund its goals and targets.
Guido Broekhoven, head of research and development at WWF, said there is a lot of talk about how to find US$700 billion by 2030.
This is the amount that would be necessary, according to several countries, to finance the plan which will make it possible to reverse the decline of biodiversity, but governments alone will not be able to finance this effort.
“The actual amount that will be necessary for the implementation of the global framework for the decade 2020-2030 will depend on the ambition” of the countries, underlined Guido Broekhoven.
“The higher the ambition, the more resources will be needed,” he added.
The various delegations present in Montreal are counting on philanthropic contributions, but also on the support of the private sector in order to find the means to implement a plan that meets expectations.
The person in charge of research and development within the WWF made a point of underlining the important number of private companies present at the conference of Montreal and the importance of their possible contribution.
“We have never seen so many companies participate in a convention on biological diversity” and several of them “want to understand how to contribute to solving the problems of biodiversity”.