World Conference on Nature: Hoping for the “Paris Moment”

Species are going extinct at a breathtaking rate. UN representatives therefore hope that the Montreal conference will decide on a global agreement on species protection – because this is “our last chance”.

The head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema is thinking a lot about her homeland these days. A lot has changed since the Tanzanian lawyer spent her childhood in Moshi at the foot of Kilimanjaro. “The village was full of trees, surrounded by scrubland. Banana trees, coffee plants. It was shady and dark there. And a crystal-clear stream flowed down from the mountain, partly over waterfalls.”

The electricity also powered the banana trees. Today they are cut down. “Today the springs have dried up completely. We have water pipes. But the sound of the water flowing down from the mountain has completely disappeared.” And with it many insects and plants.

A million species threatened with extinction

90 percent of the world’s ecosystems have been changed, and one million species are threatened with extinction. Maruma Mrema hopes the Montreal conference will deliver a big deal to save biodiversity at the last minute: namely, a global biodiversity framework that includes 21 targets. “A set of rules that is just as important as the Paris Climate Agreement. Knowing that climate change and biodiversity are closely related. We cannot take care of one and not the other.”

Because it is about nothing less than the survival of mankind. A key goal of the conference is to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s land and sea areas.

Lemke: Also implement agreements

A strong signal, says Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, who will be in Montreal from next week: “The entire world community is giving the EU Commission, but also me as the German negotiator in Montreal, a very strong negotiating mandate. Now will be decisive that this goal is also strengthened by controls, by comprehensible mechanisms, so that we not only adopt goals, but actually take action.”

For example, to create a solid financial basis for global species protection. Other main goals are stopping plastic pollution and restoring nature – for example in river meadows, forests and moors. German scientists and non-governmental organizations have also called for a fundamental change in the economic system.

“Our Last Chance”

The status report of the World Biodiversity Council shows how urgently the 196 contracting states of the convention need to agree on a strong final declaration, says Maruma Mrema: “The report clearly shows that more than a million species will be wiped out in this century. Just imagine: to ours lifetimes!”

This loss of biodiversity is unprecedented in human history. That’s why the whole world will come to the UN conference – including hundreds of ministers. All agreed targets are to be implemented by 2030. The world has agreed on biodiversity targets before: 2010 in Japan. Not one of these goals has been fully achieved to date.

That’s why Maruma Mrema is hoping for Montreal – even if she’s thinking of her home country of Tanzania. “Because scientists tell us: This is our last chance.”