Allison Hanes: How much can be accomplished at COP15, and how can we help?

Nothing less than the fate of the planet could be determined in Montreal in the coming weeks.

That might be a slight exaggeration, but not much.

Decision-makers from 196 countries will be in town for the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a.k.a. COP15. The hope is they will secure an agreement to protect 30 per cent of the world’s forests, tundra, meadows, wetlands, rivers, tributaries, deserts, seas and oceans, as well as the plant, animal, insect and fish species that call them home.

A landmark deal of this scale is essential to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and lessen the blow of catastrophic global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the legions of scientists who have warned time is fast running out for the planet to wean itself off fossil fuels, underscored that leaving nature alone is one of the most powerful actions we can take in this effort.

Nature has always been quite efficient at decarbonization. But at a time when we need to suck out as much of the carbon we’ve spewed into the atmosphere as we can, living things and their habitat are gravely threatened by human activity.

Biodiversity isn’t just life on Earth, but the key to its salvation.

As leaders from around the world converge on the Palais des congrès for COP15 from Wednesday to Dec. 19, the stakes are high, but expectations are far from great.

The recent COP27 summit in Egypt stretched into overtime to produce a historic agreement on a loss and damages fund rich countries that bear more responsibility for climate change will pay into to help poorer countries bearing its disproportionate effects. But the planet still stands on the brink of disaster after commitments to further cut emissions and phase out fossil fuels more quickly were weakened.

Some see the fact that heads of state are not showing up in Montreal as a sign little will be accomplished.

Environmentalists suggest more power, responsibility and clout over protecting biodiversity should be handed to Indigenous Peoples, who have been much wiser stewards of nature for millenniums.

Many see the summit’s goal as lacking ambition. While reaching an accord on conserving 30 per cent of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030 would be enough to give COP15 the veneer of achievement, the scientists of the IPCC have said something closer to 50 per cent is what’s really needed to offset climate change. So the bar for success may already be too low.

Protesters who will be taking to the streets of Montreal in great number are also divided. Some see the conference as an opportunity to educate the public about the importance of biodiversity and will come out in force to encourage representatives from 196 nations to take bold action. But others see the whole event as an empty sham. The Anti-Capitalist and Ecologist Coalition Against COP15 is resolute in its goal to block the conference and denounce the corrupt economic system it blames for getting the world into this catastrophe in the first place.

The anger is understandable. After all, younger generations will bear the ruinous consequences of an overheated planet. Faced with this doomsday, youth have been at the forefront of mass mobilizations around the world. Children have attempted to use the courts to force government action. Many have made personal appeals to their parents and grandparents to change their habits. Mostly, these desperate pleas have been ignored.

But disruption of COP15 would just be giving into despair at this critical moment. Cynicism must not trump hope — at least not yet.

The world is perilously close to a point of no return, despite the skeptics’ cries of alarmism. Scientists say the planet’s sixth mass extinction event — and the first one caused by one creature, us — is already underway. The IPCC has said Earth is warming faster and harm occurring at a lower threshold than previously believed, and there is a narrowing window of time to change course.

Just as human activity is the cause of climate change, both fuelling and exacerbating biodiversity loss, human co-operation remains the only solution.

It would be foolish to blindly trust decision-makers to arrive at the right and necessary choices, given the horse-trading and clash of interests that are endemic to these international conferences. But now that this crucial conference has been moved here from China because of COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions, Montrealers have an opportunity to make our voices heard and a duty to exercise our democratic rights for the good of the planet.

Whether it was the anti-globalization demonstrations at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001, the huge rally against Canada joining the Iraq War in 2003, the student uprising of the Maple Spring in 2012, the 150,000-strong climate protest of March 2019 or the half a million Montrealers who joined teenage activist Greta Thunberg in a historic mobilization in September 2019, the power of the street is strong in this city and province.

The people of Montreal, Quebec and Canada are ready to press — even shame — authorities into taking courageous action to protect the planet’s biodiversity and hold decision-makers accountable.

Expectations might be low, but hope burns strong.

ahanes@postmedia.com

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