COP15: Here are five things to know about the UN biodiversity summit and how it affects B.C.

The world’s largest biodiversity summit known as COP15 began Wednesday in Montreal. Addressing the conference, UN secretary general António Guterres said humanity has become a weapon of mass destruction and out of harmony with nature.

“Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems,” he said. “Our land, water and air are poisoned by chemicals and pesticides, and choked with plastics.”

Over the next two weeks, delegates from 200 countries will try and find common solutions to this global ecological crisis.

Here are five things to know about the conference and what it means for B.C.:

1. What is COP15 and how is it different than COP27, which recently happened in Eqypt?

About 2,000 delegates from around the world are meeting in Montreal beginning on Tuesday for COP15, a Conference of Parties that meet to discuss the Convention on Biological Diversity. It’s also been called the UN biodiversity summit. The goal is to protect nature by setting a target of protecting 30 per cent of land and water by 2030. As of now, Canada protects about 13 per cent of its land and water.

COP27, the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference was held from Nov. 6 to Nov. 20, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The UN climate summit focussed on how the world can cut greenhouse gas emissions and boost financial aid for poor countries struggling with the impacts of the climate crisis.

While the focus at COP15 in Montreal is not on climate change, the loss of biodiversity on the planet is inextricably linked to global warming. Climate change is one of the main reasons for biodiversity loss, but also the destruction of ecosystems, for example clear-cut logging of forests can accelerate climate change by removing important carbon sinks.

2. What are some of the issues being discussed at COP15?

The world’s last set of nature targets, the Aichi Targets, expired in 2020, so there will be an effort to reach a new global agreement. Delegates are considering 23 new targets, including one of the top goals, known as the 30 by 30 target. This goal asks countries commit to protecting 30 per of their land and sea territories by 2030.

Already, more than 110 countries, including Canada, have pledged support for this goal.

Other issues include banning pesticides to save at risk species such as the Monarch butterfly.

A landmark UN report in 2019 found that a million species may be pushed to extinction before the end of this century, which has serious consequences for human survival.

It also said three-quarters of land-based ecosystems and two-thirds of marine environments had been “significantly” changed by human actions, including agricultural and industrial expansions, consumption patterns and population growth.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that this loss comes at a cost:

“A cost we measure in lost jobs, hunger, disease and deaths. A cost we measure in the estimated $3 trillion in annual losses by 2030 from ecosystem degradation. A cost we measure in higher prices for water, food and energy.”

File photo of a monarch butterfly.  REUTERS/Josue Gonzalez

3. How does this affect British Columbians?

As Canada works toward the ambitious goal of preserving 30 per cent of its land and water by 2030, much of those conservation efforts will be in B.C., a province rich in biodiversity.

UBC professor of law, policy, and sustainability David Boyd said while B.C.’s percentage of protected land (about 15 per cent) is slightly higher than the national (13 per cent,) the province still has a lot of work to do to conserve 30 per cent in eight years.

“From protecting the old growth forest, which desperately needs more protection to the coral reefs, incredible sponges and B.C.’s marine area, there’s a lot of fantastic nature here that needs to be better protected,” he said, adding he hopes that COP15 will give B.C. the nudge it needs to step up biodiversity conservation efforts.

For instance, he said B.C. must “absolutely protect” what’s left of its old growth forest.

Boyd, who is also the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said the other key part of COP15 that affects B.C. is the focus on Indigenous stewardship.

“Indigenous people in B.C. have a really close relationship with the natural world. They, according to their customs and traditions, have responsibilities to take care of the land, the water and the other species. And if they do that job as they fulfill their stewardship responsibilities, that nature will in turn, take care of them and fulfill their needs,” he said.

Peter Arcese, a professor at UBC’s Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, believes B.C. can meet the 30 per cent target in eight years.

He said more land that is being used for traditional logging practices will need to be conserved, while governments, First Nations, and private firms find alternative sustainable economic opportunities for the land.

For example, he said more land can be set aside for recreational purposes with increased fees for parking or camping, and there should more initiatives like the one in the Great Bear Rainforest. There, First Nations have reduced the number of trees cut, and then make up the difference by selling carbon credits. Buyers use the credits to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions.

4. What is Canada doing to support Indigenous stewardship?

On Wednesday, as COP15 got underway, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government will spend up to $800 million to support four major Indigenous-led conservation projects across Canada, in B.C., Ontario, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Among the projects to be funded is a marine conservation and sustainability initiative in the Great Bear Sea along British Columbia’s north coast, championed by 17 First Nations in the area.

Another project includes protection for boreal forests, rivers and lands across the Northwest Territories, spearheaded by 30 Indigenous governments.

Funds will also go to an Inuit-led project involving waters and land in Nunavut’s Qikiqtani region and to a project in western James Bay to protect the world’s third largest wetland, led by the Omushkego Cree in Ontario.

5. How will countries pay for protecting nature?

As part of the talks, countries will discuss ways of raising money and redirecting funds toward conservation goals. These could include rethinking subsidies for industries that pollute or in other ways harm nature.

A draft of the deal being negotiated includes a call for slashing these so-called harmful subsidies by at least $500 billion annually from the estimated $1.8 trillion given to activities that degrade nature. It also envisions increasing both public and private sector financing to at least $200 billion per year.

ticrawford@postmedia.com

—with files from The Canadian Press and Reuters