World Conference on Nature to stop orgy of destruction

In the preliminary negotiations for a new, global framework for the protection of nature in Montréal no breakthrough has been achieved. Observers described the results as ambivalent at best. The experts, who tried to solve the numerous open questions from December 3rd to 5th, are now handing over a rough draft to the conference, “which will be challenging to negotiate in many respects,” it said.

The Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, and the head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, warned in Montreal on Tuesday that it was high time that the negotiators moved towards each other.

The negotiations initially focused on the least controversial points, said the geoecologist Axel Paulsch from the Institute for Biodiversity, who is an observer in Montreal, the FAZ. There was agreement on the formulation of a few goals in the planned agreement: about the consideration of indigenous peoples and local communities in decision-making processes, the goal of gender justice and the special consideration of the concerns of women and girls.

However, no agreement has been reached on key issues such as the goal of protecting 30 percent of land and sea surface, nor on financial support for developing countries to protect biodiversity. The planned goals for the private sector were also described as difficult.

Guterres sounds the alarm

The Canadian Prime Minister, among others, was to attend the ceremonial opening of the conference on Tuesday afternoon, local time Justin Trudeau speak. China, which holds the presidency of the conference, will be represented by Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu. Runqui spoke of a “historic moment”. Effective solutions are needed to overcome the biodiversity crisis. China will endeavor to bridge the differences between the delegations.

The UN Secretary-General made urgent appeals to the assembled delegations Antonio Guterres. It was high time “to end the war against nature,” he warned after the speech manuscript that had been distributed in advance. Ecosystems have become “playing fields of profit”. It is not only nature that suffers from this, the overexploitation is mainly at the expense of the poorest in the world. The conference is the chance to “stop the orgy of destruction”.

This would require bold national action plans to protect nature. The private sector must recognize that profiting from nature and protecting it must go hand in hand. Guterres also demanded that the countries of the Global North should give developing countries generous support in protecting nature.

Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens), who will represent Germany, indirectly criticized in an interview with the FAZ China: “The position of countries that are global players in economic growth and consumption of nature, but do not want to provide financial support, will certainly be discussed in Montreal.”