After historic pact at UN climate summit, next is 'Paris deal' for nature

NEW DELHI: A historic agreement was finally agreed upon last week at the COP27 climate summit to establish a loss and damage fund, a long-awaited demand by vulnerable countries to support the climate impacted communities.

And at a time when the health of the planet is under threat, another remarkable achievement last week was from the ninth meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties as it adopted 46 out of 52 proposals, and a record 365 decisions to protect flora and fauna. After COP27 and CITES summits, the world will be on the road to UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) from December 3-December 19 in Montreal, a once-in-a-decade opportunity to usher in a new global framework to protect and conserve the world's biodiversity by signing the 'Paris deal' for nature.

COP15, with a high-level segment from December 15-December 17, is expected to adopt the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF), which will set out a new plan to transform society's relationship with biodiversity and ensure the Convention's 2050 vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.

Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity is dedicated to promoting sustainable development. The Convention recognizes that biological diversity is about more than plants, animals and micro organisms and their ecosystems – it is about people and the need for food security, medicines, fresh air and water, shelter, and a clean and healthy environment in which to live.

The COP15 summit has been referred to as the moment for a 'Paris deal' for nature – referring to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement where the world came together behind a global climate agreement. However, leading champions of the Paris Agreement – Laurent Fabius, President of COP21; Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, President of COP20; Christiana Figueres, ex-Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC; Laurence Tubiana, France's Climate Change Ambassador; and Nigel Topping, COP26 High level Climate Champion – have urged leaders to step up action to address the accelerating loss of nature by delivering an ambitious and transformative global biodiversity agreement at COP15.

"The world came together in 2015 to secure the Paris Agreement. We urge leaders to do the same now to deliver a strong sister agreement capable of securing a nature-positive world by 2030," they said in a joint statement. They called on the world leaders to secure an ambitious and transformative global biodiversity agreement capable of reversing nature loss this decade at the upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference. IANS

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