In the exhibit hall of COP15 in Montreal, a five-foot sculpture of a seedling rises and falls in accordance with data charting the success or failure of negotiations at the UN biodiversity summit.
Much is at stake as anxious discussions get underway at the long-awaited two-week conference, originally scheduled to occur in China two years ago.
But as Cambodian delegate Nath Pang puts it, there’s hope in the air too.
On COP15’s opening day, Pang is listening to Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault explain Canada’s main goals for the conference: get the parties to agree to a target of 30% protection of biodiversity by 2030 (120 of 196 attending countries had already committed to this “30x30” goal); reverse biodiversity loss by 2030; provide funding for developing countries, like Pang’s, to ensure targets can be met; and integrate Indigenous land stewardship knowledge throughout the process.
“In Cambodia,” Pang says, “we aren’t quite as concerned about climate change, but we are very concerned about the loss of species. My hope is that this COP will help us all put a stop to this.”
Unlike COP27, which took place earlier in the fall in Egypt and was focused solely on reducing the emissions that cause climate change, this gathering is intended to hammer out a framework governing what’s called the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This framework will set targets for how humanity, collectively, will conserve biodiversity, use its components sustainably, and share the benefits from the use of genetic resources equitably.
More than 17,000 delegates representing 196 governments, scientists and climate activists came to Montreal for what is billed as our last best chance to halt and reverse the damage humanity has inflicted on ecosystems worldwide.
The need is urgent. Earlier in the day, we’d heard UN Secretary-General António Guterres describe humanity, aptly, as a “weapon of mass extinction.” Cold hard science bears this out: according to a recent World Wildlife Fund study, since 1970, monitored species (of mammals, birds, insects and plant life) have declined by 69%.
Yet we rely on biodiversity for human survival: everything from maintaining and expanding forest cover to absorb carbon dioxide, to innovations in medicine, to wetlands that can slow down and reverse the destructive impacts of coastal flooding. One expert at the conference likened the destruction of biodiversity to collectively committing suicide.
To halt and reverse the situation, experts hammered out 22 targets that would give the international community a clear pathway to that goal of 30% conservation by 2030. All those Corporate Knights spoke to at the conference agree: failure to get a deal is not an option.
We are very concerned about the loss of species. My hope is that this COP will help us all put a stop to this.
-Nath Pang, Cambodian delegate to COP15
Yet the path to consensus is by no means smooth. The text of the framework retained 1,200 bracketed phrases where negotiators had yet to reach agreement on final wording at the time of printing. Of the five largest landmasses (the U.S., China, Russia, Brazil and Canada), only Canada has signalled willingness to commit to the 30x30 target. (As a non-signatory to the CBD, the U.S. isn’t even at the table.)
Brazil’s new president, Lula da Silva, has pledged to halt and reverse the destruction to the Amazon, but he won’t be sworn in until January, after the conference closes. And NGOs have criticized the current presidency of the CBD, China, for deliberately downplaying the negotiations’ significance. While the UN is there in force, led by Guterres, the only head of government present is that of the host country, Canada. (One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s conditions for hosting the conference in Montreal was ensuring that the Chinese government would tolerate space for protest and dissent.)
The business community at COP15 is also split. One lobby, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, has published rigorous guidelines for becoming a nature-positive business; another, the International Fertilizer Industry Association, is actively undermining language related to fertilizer use, as per reports from InfluenceWatch, a lobbyist tracking organization. (IFIA denies this charge.) The issue of biopiracy is another sticking point, with delegates from developing countries accusing those from northern countries of excluding them from profits related to medicines developed with materials from the Global South.
So what does success look like for COP15? At the minimum, writes Patrick Greenfield in The Guardian, success includes substantive action on overconsumption, intensive agriculture and pollution, and enough resources for ambitious conservation efforts – without infringing on human rights.
Working in humanity’s favour at COP15 are two things that are also on full display: the creativity of our imaginations, as illustrated by Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker’s robotic seedling, and our ability to adapt. As Cambodian delegate Pang notes, “From this conference, we will have more of the tools we need to protect our biodiversity. That means we still have a chance.”
