COP15: after the agreement, the difficult implementation of biodiversity protection
The leaders of COP15 on biodiversity applaud after the agreement reached in Montreal, December 19, 2022. © Julian Haber/UN Biodiversity/Handout via REUTERS
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Some 190 countries adopted additional commitments on biodiversity at COP15 in Montreal on Monday, particularly around the sharing of economic benefits to be derived from genetic data from plants and animals.
On the subject of the collapse of biodiversity, all eyes are now on the implementation of the agreement, which will largely depend on the States.
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With our special correspondent in Montreal,
Lucile Gimberg
Often forgotten by economic or political actors, the necessary protection of biodiversity will have had its “
Paris moment
”, to use the expression devoted to COP15 in Montreal.
An
ambitious agreement to protect and restore more natural spaces
, to reduce the impacts of our agriculture or pollution.
And to put the subject at the center of the table, right next to the climate.
Philippe Grandcolas, CNRS researcher and biodiversity specialist:
“
One of the benefits of this COP, even if it seems trivial, is to legitimize
the issues on the diversity
of living things.
We know that biodiversity is food, it's our health, it's the climate, it's not just exotic images here and there of natural environments or large animals, but an absolutely central issue to the life of mankind.
»
It will then be necessary to transform the test.
Each country is responsible for translating the objectives of the global framework at the national level:
“
It is important now to be attentive to how countries are going to implement these strategies.
For example, in France, a national strategy for biodiversity that the Ministry of Ecological Transition will have to revise.
»
Civil society's watchdog effort will be decisive.
First assessment in two years at the next biodiversity COP, scheduled for Turkey.
►
To read also:
Biodiversity: the question of genetic data threatens the outcome of COP15
The importance of indigenous peoples in the preservation of biodiversity in the agreement
Expelled from their territories when protected areas were created in many places around the world,
indigenous peoples gave a voice during this COP15 in Montreal
and they were heard.
The new international roadmap to protect biodiversity gives guarantees to these communities that protect 80% of the planet's biodiversity.
10 COP15 _His P. Grandcolas (spec. biodiversity) "indigenous peoples" 5H
Lucile Gimberg
In Quebec, the paradox of destroying wild areas to promote electric
Several African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, deplore in this COP the lack of financial aid from the richest countries to help them protect nature. On the Quebec side, some organizations are wondering about the means to be implemented to truly preserve wildlife. Because to have the raw material for the electrification of transport, the government relies on the exploitation of mining sites… on wild areas to be protected.
With our correspondent in Quebec,
Pascale Guéricolas
It seems easy for Quebec, very sparsely populated, to protect 30% of its territory.
However, this preservation concerns for the moment only 20% of its surface, especially in the North.
And several potential protected areas could be blocked by current applications for mining concessions.
This is the observation made by Nature Québec, an organization for the defense of the environment, by taking an interest in several wild areas to be preserved: these areas are precisely on possible mining sites.
Determined to help the electrification of transport, the Quebec government is counting on the exploitation of lithium and cobalt, used in batteries for electric vehicles.
A paradox, according to Anne-Cécile Guyon of Nature-Québec:
“
On the one hand, to say that we are proactive, to be able to protect our territory by 2030, but at the same time we are doing the opposite, by opening up the territory to an economic activity that is extremely harmful to the environment.
»
Environmentalists therefore intend to continue to pressure governments to keep their word.
►
To read also:
Agreement at COP15: "This is one of the first important agreements for biodiversity"
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