Putting people before the Planet does justice to neither
By Malini Shankar
With the 16th Conference of Parties
of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity ending on an
inconclusive note in Cali Colombia on 1st November 2024, (essentially
on grounds of fiscal inconclusivity), news
release today says the Cali
COP 16 will conclude in Rome in February 2025.
In the wee hours of 2nd November
2024 almost all delegates walked out of the venue as they had flights to board …
the fiscal commitments were left askance in the air, commitments to policy and
legislative measures to achieve the impossible – reduce and reverse Global
Warming by 1.50 globally by 2030, mitigate sea level rise and
natural disaster risk, eradicate hunger and poverty, secure water, food and
livelihood security and mitigate biodiversity loss by re-greening the planet …
all by 2030.
Putting up a brave face Ms. Astrid Shomaker the
Executive Secretary of the
Convention on Biological Diversity said in a press release “We arrived in Cali
with a heavy agenda of work, and thanks to the determination of countries and
the energy from this ‘People’s COP’, we’ve made good progress. COP16 has
delivered important commitments on the interconnections on nature and climate,
biodiversity and health and Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine
Areas (EBSAs). The new agreement on Article
8J is a critical step forward and commits us to embed the knowledge
and role of Indigenous Peoples and local custodians across our work to deliver
the Global Biodiversity Framework. Another big win is the new mechanism and
fund for fair and equitable benefit-sharing from Digital Sequencing Information
of genetic resources which will ensure that those who profit from biodiversity
give back to nature, countries and communities. Of course, we would have liked
to achieve more on resource mobilization and advances on the monitoring
framework, but we will not slow down the pace of work. 2030 is rapidly
approaching and action cannot wait.”
The Rome Round of the ‘suspended’ UNCBD COP 16 in Cali Colombia in February
2025 will have to focus with renewed vigour on a sustainable yet workable way
of concluding fiscal commitments to – putting it simply - re-greening the
planet even if by putting people before the planet. “A major focus of the (to
be) resumed session: a new Resource Mobilization Strategy aimed at securing
$200 billion annually by 2030 from all sources for biodiversity initiatives and
reducing harmful incentives by at least $500 billion per year by 2030” says a
press release today, 28th November 2024 from the UNCBD COP 16
Secretariat.
Mitigating biodiversity loss, reversing global warming, securing water food
and livelihood security while eradicating poverty and hunger, inclusive
transport and infrastructure, equitable distribution of renewable energy,
factoring in market access for indigenous people within the framework of WTO’s
Agreement on market Access are all
mandatory check boxes before sitting for the conclusion round at Rome indeed.
Mobilizing
Financial Resources for Biodiversity, Monitoring
Framework, Financial
Mechanism, guidance on
ecologically and biologically significant marine areas beyond national
jurisdictions, are all top priorities for parties to
complte negotiations and preliminary work before restarting the Cali – Rom
Round of UNCBD discussions.
Not one country has reached / achieved the 23 targets of KMGBF / Kunming
Montreal Global Biodiversity Targets, India
too has only completed / reached three targets.
Only 44 countries in all have made any headway regarding 23 targets of
KMGBF.
Putting people before the planet with all the elaborate governance
prerequisites and democratic protocols reflect the slow the process of the
plenaries where 3 clauses to be ratified by 196 countries need a minimal three
to four hours. How then the Industrial revolution triggered GHG emissions and
global warming be reversed?
Other contradictions stem from lack of livelihood security being linked to
reversing emissions from industrialisation. Unsustainable agriculture to
eradication of poverty and hunger. Mitigating biodiversity loss to eradication
of poverty and hunger. All these are colossal tasks facing humanity, need a set
time frame say five years to achieve each SDG
Thereafter mitigating biodiversity loss needs realistic re-assessment and
action.
Nevertheless, putting people before the Planet does justice to neither. Negotiators
in Rome have their task cut out.
Thanx to Malini who has brought out relevant points and well summarised. What I would like to add is that One of the main reasons for most of the developing countries not being able to achieve the KMGBF targets is finance related. So there should be a provision for funding developing countries by others who can fund them to help achieve targets as spelt out. Otherwise it’s an uphill task with time running out.India could choose to task ask giant corporates to pitch in. and modalities worked to achieve the desired targets with time frames
ReplyDeleteHow true indeed!
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