Potential deal could ask rich nations to pay $20Bln to protect nature

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 Dec 2022 20:18

The new COP15 proposal aims to ensure that by 2030 at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas are protected, managed and conserved.

15th UN biodiversity conference in Montreal.

The new deal proposed Sunday at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal calls for rich countries to pay $20 billion in yearly aid by 2025 to assist poor countries in restoring and saving their ecosystems.

After the year of 2025, it will ask for wealthy countries to increase that amount to $30 billion in yearly aid by 2030.

Overall, this initiative aims to "ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas" are protected, managed and conserved.

It also includes respecting the rights of Indigenous people in specific areas.

The deal has reportedly been well received by environmentalists but still needs to be agreed upon by the 196 signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Since the start of the summit, delegates have been engaged in fraught negotiations to discuss the draft agreement.

Some say it is likely that negotiations may run out of steam and fail to provide a long-term solution since tomorrow marks the last day of the summit.

According to Alfred DeGemmis of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the deal "responds to parties' calls for ambitious outcomes by 2030, including calls to enhance ecological integrity, reduce the risk of pathogen spillover, and conserve at least 30% of our lands and oceans."

"However, parties may push back in plenary, so it's important for China to bring any hesitant governments on board with the overwhelming global consensus that biodiversity loss is an urgent crisis that requires immediate action."

DeGemmis further cautioned that much of the text was overly focused on the action by 2050 rather than targeting more urgent and immediate solutions by 2030.

Another matter of concern has been the funding mechanism.

'Developing' countries have been calling for the establishment of a new fund for wealthy countries to show their commitment to the protection of the environment.

Another key issue to watch for is the funding mechanism.

But the draft proposal suggests that a "trust fund" be established within the existing Global Environment Facility.

China's Environment Minister Huang Rinqiu said ahead of Sunday's publication: "It is not a perfect document, not a document that will make everyone happy. However... it is a document that must be adopted at this meeting, that is highly expected by the international community."

Critics have warned prior to the start of the COP15 that the conference would collapse as a result of controversy over how much rich countries should pay to fund the commitment.

Some remain confident to achieve consensus whereas others remain skeptical.