Environmental organizations rate the first results of the biodiversity conference in China largely positive. That is quite remarkable. It is not uncommon in the past that politicians have patted each other on the back on climate and environmental issues, while observers have been harshly critical. After the political declaration passed on Wednesday by the almost 200 contracting states, however, the World Wildlife Fund WWF ruled that it shows the will to stop the loss of biodiversity. The environmental rights organization Client Earth even spoke of “strong principles” that were adopted.
The United Nations conference in the southern Chinese city of Kunming was intended to send a signal that the world’s governments are aware of the danger of species extinction. The destruction of nature has picked up speed in the past decades, the World Biodiversity Council IPBES warns that up to a million animal and plant species could disappear. With unpredictable consequences for the interaction of nature. Scientists warn that species extinction could become an even bigger problem for humans than climate change.
Some government representatives, including the German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, spoke in Kunming on Tuesday and Wednesday. She called for ambitious goals, the national implementation of which would also have to be checked so that they “do not remain empty promises”. The so-called Kunming Declaration now sets a direction, albeit a vague one. The details will be negotiated in April and May 2022 and should lead to a global agreement.
For Florian Titze, expert on international biodiversity policy at WWF, it is important that the international community recognize “that a wide range of measures is necessary”. In addition to more protected areas and the restoration of destroyed regions, the economic and financial systems would also have to transform. According to Elizabeth Mrema, Secretary General of the UN environmental program UNEP, 500 billion US dollars in subsidies flow into nature-destroying projects worldwide every year. These financial flows would have to be diverted.
China is greatly expanding its protected areas
It was eagerly anticipated how hosts China would position themselves. In a video address, President Xi Jinping announced a natural fund worth EUR 200 million to help developing countries finance their environmental protection. In addition, China wants to designate more nature reserves, for example in the province of Yunnan with the capital Kunming. As the local governor explained, this is supposed to protect the tropical rainforest as well as the few elephants that are still roaming around. “I believe China’s proportion of land and marine protected areas will be impressive,” said Dimitri de Boer, head of Client Earth’s Beijing office.
What is also at stake for Germany can currently be observed in the Baltic Sea. Years of overfishing, pollution and the effects of global warming have reduced fish stocks so drastically that the European Union had to reduce the catch quota for cod to zero and for herring on Tuesday. The EU biodiversity strategy already stipulates that 30 percent of the land and sea area should be placed under protection by 2030. In addition, the use of fertilizers and pesticides is to be reduced by half. However, the goals are not yet legally binding.