COP 15: Global Biodiversity Framework

COP 15 in Montreal from 7-19 December 2022, Canada was the second part of a landmark UN biodiversity summit which was originally supposed to take place in Kunming, China, in 2020, but was postponed several times due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• The governments from around the world came together to agree on a new set of goals to guide global action and adopted a bold Global Biodiversity Framework to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by the end of the decade.

Major Outcomes of COP 15

• The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has clear, measurable goals and targets, with complete monitoring, reporting, and review arrangements to track progress.
• It is complemented by a robust resource mobilisation package.
• It commits the global community to actions to protect and restore nature and remove pollution in the form of 23 specific targets and four “overarching global” goals.

Goals and targets for ambitious action by 2030 and 2050: The Kunming-Montreal biodiversity agreement includes key global targets to:

• Restore 30% degraded ecosystems globally (on land and sea) by 2030
• Conserve and manage 30% areas (terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine) by 2030
• Stop the extinction of known species, and by 2050 reduce tenfold the extinction risk and rate of all species (including unknown)
• Reduce risk from pesticides by at least 50% by 2030
• Reduce nutrients lost to the environment by at least 50% by 2030
• Reduce pollution risks and negative impacts of pollution from all sources by 2030 to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions
• Reduce global footprint of consumption by 2030, including through significantly reducing overconsumption and waste generation and halving food waste
• Sustainably manage areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry and substantially increase agroecology and other biodiversity-friendly practices
• Tackle climate change through nature-based solutions
• Reduce the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030
• Secure the safe, legal and sustainable use and trade of wild species by 2030
• Green up urban spaces.