Negotiations are ramping up on a new framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Can they deliver a new deal for nature?
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ubbed by some the “other COP”, UN negotiations over revised biodiversity targets and a new international framework for nature restoration and conservation have not had the same media or political profile as those on climate change. However, the issue of biodiversity loss has gained ground in the past ten months, since the publication of the landmark report
Environment & people
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March 2020
by scientists on the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which stated that one million species were facing extinction. Businesses have also been found to be more dependent on nature than previously thought, with approximately USD 44 trillion of economic value generation – equivalent to half the world’s GDP – moderately or highly dependent, according to a report published by the World Economic Forum and consultancy PwC. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recently published its initial proposals for the framework. This “zero draft” will be discussed at a series of meetings in the run-up to the final Conference of Parties
(COP), to be hosted by China in Kunming in October, with the first scheduled for the end of February. Now that solid proposals are on the table, we explore five key points. Areas protected for nature should be increased National parks and other protected areas cover 15% of land and 10% of territorial waters. This is widely recognised as nowhere near sufficient. The zero draft proposes that at least 60% of important sites be protected by 2030, covering at least 30% of land and sea areas, with at least 10% under strict protection. The increase has been broadly welcomed by scientists and environmental
