Planned framework agreement
2030 target for biodiversity protection could be postponed
Dead conifers stand on a cleared area. The drought of 2019 and 2020 and the bark beetle had killed a large part of the spruce trees in the Harz Mountains. Now the dead wood areas are cleared and the wood is transported away. Photo: Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB
© dpa-infocom GmbH
By 2030, numerous measures to preserve biodiversity should actually be implemented, such as the protection of 30 percent of all sea and land areas. But other crises and conflicts could delay the project.
The target dates in the planned framework agreement for the protection of biodiversity could be postponed in view of the corona pandemic and the Ukraine crisis.
The Head of the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, did not rule that out on Monday in Geneva at the start of the decisive round of negotiations. The planned measures should actually be implemented by 2030, such as the protection of 30 percent of all sea and land areas. Currently, only around eight percent of the oceans and 17 percent of land areas are protected.
It is conceivable that delegations will extend the implementation period in view of the large financial burdens involved in overcoming the corona pandemic or the consequences of the Ukraine crisis, said Mrema. But 2030 remains an important intermediate goal because the United Nations development goals are to be achieved by 2030 and many need the protection of biodiversity. In addition to species diversity, biodiversity also includes genetic diversity within species and diversity of habitats. One of the sticking points in the negotiations is how much money will be made available to help poorer countries protect their species.
In Geneva, more than 1,000 government representatives are negotiating 21 goals under the umbrella of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which the framework agreement is to include. It is to be adopted at a conference in Kunming, China, at the end of the summer. According to Mrema, the Russian delegation did not travel because their flight had been cancelled. Participation is also possible virtually.
“Every year counts”
Postponing the goals to protect biodiversity would be a devastating signal, said Jan-Niclas Gesenhues (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), member of the Bundestag and chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. “Every year counts when it comes to effectively countering the species crisis.” Gesenhues called for ambitious goals and binding financing commitments in the framework agreement. “Because the mass extinction of species and the destruction of ecosystems remain major risks for our planet.”
“Many of the crises we are going through are a symptom of how we deal with nature,” said Josef Settele from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Halle/Saale of the German Press Agency. “These include Covid-19 and other infectious diseases as well as species extinction and climate change.”
Species-rich systems would be destroyed worldwide. As a result, viruses spread because there is a lack of host diversity, pests because there is a lack of opponent diversity, and forests die off because there is a lack of tree species to be more resistant to change. “This shows how vital it is for Kunming to reach an ambitious framework agreement to preserve biodiversity – a biodiversity that includes genetic diversity, species diversity and the integrity of ecosystems.”