In Montreal, Indigenous communities from across the country and around the world braved the freezing cold alongside several hundred protesters on Saturday afternoon to demand that decision-makers gathered at COP15 act “now” to protect biodiversity.
The objective of the mobilization is of course to send a “signal” to the countries which are negotiating the next “pact of peace with nature”. Negotiators from nearly 190 countries have until December 19 to agree on twenty key objectives to halt the destruction of natural environments by the end of the decade.
The demonstrators first gathered in a festive atmosphere at the foot of Mount Royal. In the crowd of all ages, some demonstrators were dressed as colorful birds, while many others held up posters reminding that many animal species are in danger, or denouncing the construction of oil pipelines and the destruction of green spaces in the country.
Because time is running out, say protesters and NGOs: a million species are threatened with extinction, a third of the land is seriously degraded and fertile soils are disappearing, while pollution and climate change are accelerating the degradation of the oceans.
COP15, UN chief calls for an end to the destruction of biodiversity
The UN conference on biodiversity opened Wednesday in Montreal with a colossal challenge: to conclude in two weeks a historic agreement, the “last chance” to save species and natural environments from irreversible destruction.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 on the eve of the opening of the Cop15 on biodiversity which starts this Wednesday in Montreal, Canada. He called for an end to the destruction of biodiversity.
Human beings are waging a war against nature that must be stopped, he denounced.
“With our disproportionate appetite for uncontrolled and unequal economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction”, he hammered during the curtain-raiser of this conference in Montreal, which he sees as “our chance to stop this orgy of destruction”.
After two years of postponement due to the pandemic and Beijing’s health policy, the UN conference on biodiversity, COP15, finally has begun on Wednesday, December 7, even if it remains chaired by China. Objective of the negotiators for the next two weeks: to reach an international agreement with concrete commitments by 2030 to protect nature.
Delegates from more than 190 countries meet until December 19 to adopt a new ten-year global framework to safeguard nature and its resources essential to humanity.
Time is running out: a million species are threatened with extinction, a third of the land is severely degraded and fertile soils are disappearing, while pollution and climate change are accelerating the degradation of the oceans.
“Today we are not in harmony with nature, on the contrary we are playing a very different melody”, a “cacophony of chaos played with instruments of destruction”, summed up the UN secretary general.
Pollinating insects, which enable agriculture, beetles, which recycle the excrement of our farm animals, or micro-organisms, which store carbon in the ocean… The living world plays an essential role in this. One million species could be extinct by 2050.
The cost of ecosystem degradation is estimated at 3 trillion dollars per year by 2030, said Antonio Guterres.
Before his speech, a dozen indigenous activists had demonstrated during that of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose intervention was interrupted by the tambourines of a dozen representatives of a local indigenous people, illustrating the fever caused by the ecological crisis in these communities.
“Genocide of the natives = ecocide”, “To save biodiversity, stop invading our lands”, proclaim their banner, brandished for a few minutes to the applause of part of the room, before escorting them calmly, towards the exit.
In an attempt to reach a conclusion, three days of preliminary discussions took place from December 3 to 5. But they ended with no significant progress – only five targets approved – fueling growing concern from experts and NGOs.
This summit, chaired by China, was moved to Canada due to Beijing’s zero Covid policy. It is taking place without the support of world leaders, although they turned out in large numbers for the climate COP in Sharm-el-Sheikh in November. It is therefore the environment ministers who will be responsible, from 15 December, for carrying out the negotiations.
The stated ambition remains to seal an agreement as historic as that of Paris for the climate in 2015. But some fear “possibly deliberate strategies to provoke a similar scenario in Copenhagen”, where the COP Climate had experienced a resounding failure in 2009, notes the NGO Avaaz.
Before his speech, a dozen indigenous activists had protested during that of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose intervention was interrupted by the tambourines of a dozen representatives of a local indigenous people, illustrating the fever caused by the ecological crisis in these communities.
“Genocide of the natives = ecocide”, “To save biodiversity, stop invading our lands”, proclaimed their banner, brandished for a few minutes to the applause of part of the room, before they were escorted into the calm, towards the exit.
In an attempt to reach a conclusion, three days of preliminary discussions took place from 3 to 5 December. But they ended without significant progress – only five objectives approved – fueling growing concern among experts and NGOs.
This summit, which is chaired by China, has been moved to Canada due to Beijing’s zero Covid policy. It is taking place without the support of world leaders, despite having come in large numbers to the climate COP in Sharm-el-Sheikh in November. It is therefore the Ministers of the Environment who will be responsible, from 15 December, for bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion.
The stated ambition remains to seal an agreement as historic as that of Paris for the climate in 2015. But some fear “possibly deliberate strategies to provoke a scenario similar to Copenhagen”, where the COP Climate had experienced a resounding failure in 2009, notes the NGO Avaaz.
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