(c) BirdLife
Today’s blog is written by Fiona Dobson, International Policy Officer, and Georgina Chandler, Senior International Policy Officer, to report on progress from the opening days of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15.
Here in Montreal, the most important international environment summit of the decade – COP15 – is in full swing. We are five days in, and it’s certainly been a rollercoaster. We’re here to report out on progress (or lack of) and gear you up for what’s to come.
COP15 kicked off last Tuesday afternoon, 6 of December 2022, with a ceremonial opening, and the days that followed have been jam packed with negotiations and events. This COP has the vital task of agreeing a new global framework to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. We’ve been working towards this for many years, and this final sprint has been far from straightforward.
Rocky foundations
Before the start of the COP itself, many delegates gathered for three days of intense pre-negotiations for the final Open-Ended Working Group meeting. The task of this meeting was to attempt to clean up the draft framework as much as possible to send it in a good state to COP for final negotiation. But as Elizabeth Mrema – the CBD Executive Secretary – said herself, simply not enough progress was made. Negotiations repeated the same patterns as before and there was a real sense that we were doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. For many it was incredibly frustrating to see the text expanding rather than being refined and we entered COP15 with a messy foundation on which to build.
A shift in tone?
Thankfully, once COP itself kicked off, the mood seemed to shift and things started to move at more of a pace. Negotiators are now faced with the challenge of needing to get the text cleaned up as much as possible before ministers arrive very soon for the ‘High Level Segment’. Ministers arriving at the end of a COP is important as they are normally the political key to unlocking contentious issues. In this case we expect them to focus on financing and the ambition level of targets.
Crucial issues teetering on the edge
Some of the key issues we’ve been following here are the species-related components of the framework, and the ‘implementation mechanism’. These elements are crucial to ensure that we have ambitious, measurable goals for species recovery, and a clear plan in place for how Parties will translate global promises into action and be held accountable.
On the species side, there have been many heart-in-mouth moments. At points it’s felt like all the hard work of the past two years was at risk of being thrown to the (chilling Montreal) wind. We have been deeply concerned by the lack of ambition by some Parties, who want to remove measurable 2030 milestones from the Goal. This is a critical element to measure progress at the end of the decade and assess whether we are on the path to recovery or not. Some also wanted to remove any quantitative elements of species population abundance and extinction risk (which are vital elements to ensure we can measure whether we are both halting and reversing loss). Encouragingly, there are also many Parties that are championing ambition, and the latest text on the table is now moving in the right direction. There is however still a lot of work to do to secure this ambition and we've been sharing our expertise and rationale for why it’s so essential that the headline species goal is robust.
The implementation piece is one of the most crucial things to be decided at this COP to ensure transparency and accountability for countries’ commitments. It is fundamental to ensure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes of the past where promises were made but not implemented. We want to see strong commitments being made on delivering against the set of steps for planning, monitoring, reporting and review. Yet in the past few days of discussions, timelines are being pushed and language watered down on the idea of ramping up action over time. We are calling for Parties to recognise how critical these elements are, and to come back to the table with a more ambitious approach.
Public pressure for change
One thing this COP has made clear is how much passion, creativity and determination exists in the environmental community to push for a better world. The ceremonial opening was filled with incredible performances, from traditional throat singing to hoop dancing, reminding us of the wonders of the natural world and how we are inextricably connected.
It’s been inspiring to be able to join with people from across Canada to make our voices heard too – on Saturday hundreds took to the streets in a big march for nature. Beautiful puppets, banners and costumes brought such colour and hope to the chilly Montreal streets. The ‘power of many’ was palpable. We hope that this energy and passion translates into the negotiating halls.
We’ve also been moved by the messages of hope that have been emerging through our ‘murmuration wall’ at the Nature Positive Pavilion within the venue. To build from our ‘human murmuration’ as part of the Urgent Conversation campaign, we have installed a murmuration of paper birds which we are encouraging delegates write messages on about their hopes for COP15. This is in partnership with a campaign led by our Canadian BirdLife partner Nature Canada, who have brought messages from people across Canada to COP15 in a stunning art display. We’ve had so many people coming to ‘join the flock’. See below The Canadian Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, adding his message!
An ambitious global agreement for nature hangs in the balance
The mood here moving into this new week is certainly mixed, but one thing is clear, ambition hangs in the balance, and we look to the negotiations and the ministers in particular to secure it. There are no second chances. We are here to negotiate a new and ambitious global deal for nature and that’s what must happen!
Watch this space
We’ll be in Montreal for the duration of COP15 as part of the BirdLife International Delegation working hard and advocating for a strong global biodiversity framework that can deliver a Nature Positive world by 2030. We’ll be reporting on progress, so stay tuned!
(c) Kim Dunn at RSPB
Further reading:
Check out this page on the BirdLife International website to learn more about our detailed policy positions for the development of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: https://www.birdlife.org/projects/the-post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework-a-now-or-never-opportunity-for-nature/