UN conference on species protection starts: Global meeting with ambitious goals

More nature conservation areas, fewer toxins in agriculture, better protection against plastic waste: the 15th UN Conference on Biological Diversity begins in Kunming, China, and virtually.

The Chinese state media have been promoting the UN event in Kunming for weeks. The People’s Republic presents itself as a pioneer in the protection of species and nature: on state television you can see lush green meadows, rainforests, pandas and monkeys. There is no mention of China’s grappling with huge environmental problems.

One of the problems is that in the most populous country in the world, an extremely high amount of plastic is used in everyday life. This is what Zhou Jinfeng from the non-governmental foundation for the protection of biodiversity and green development said in an interview with the ARD. For example, there is the CO2 emissions that result from the production of plastic.

“We can no longer afford the air pollution, the environmental pollution. There is all the garbage in the landfills and the plastic leftovers in rivers, lakes and seas. An example: Every school year in China alone billions of books are packed in plastic protective sleeves. That is enormous. And we are absolutely against it, “said Zhou Jinfeng.

The main focus of the biodiversity conference in Kunming is likely to be how the rich countries in the north can be persuaded to support the poorer countries in the south financially.

At the end of the conference, the participating states want to sign an agreement on biodiversity. There is already a first draft. It formulates numerous goals: by the end of the decade, at least 30 percent of the earth’s surface should be placed under protection – that relates to land and the seas. The aim is to reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture by two thirds, to halve the waste of food and resources and to stop plastic pollution.

Investments are to be doubled

In order to achieve all of this, it is planned to spend twice as much money on the protection of biological diversity by 2030 – around 175 billion euros annually worldwide.

This meeting is crucial, said Secretary General of the United Nations Environment Program, Inger Andersen, on Chinese state television. “The aim of this summit is to protect humanity. When biodiversity is at risk, people’s lives are also at risk. After all, we have to produce the food we eat,” said Andersen. “But we also have to understand that agriculture can drive the loss of biodiversity. So how do we manage change? We now have the chance to stop the loss of biodiversity.”

The UN conference under the presidency of China, which begins today, was supposed to start last year, but it has been postponed due to the corona pandemic. In the coming days, the participants from all over the world will connect mainly online. The Chinese delegation will meet in Kunming, southern China, and head of state and party leader Xi Jinping will also join in tomorrow.

Minister Schulze and Müller take part online

Nobody from the federal government travels personally. That is why Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and Development Minister Gerd Müller take part online. The conference will end with a face-to-face meeting in April and May in Kunming, then the participating states want to adopt the strategy paper.

It is currently unclear how this will take place logistically. Because of its strict zero-covid policy, China lets almost no people into the country. Anyone who is allowed to enter currently has to be in hotel quarantine for up to three weeks.