The UN’s Cop15 Biodiversity Summit in Montreal last December has been hailed as a turning point in the global approach to loss of biological diversity, marking a critical moment for addressing what many see as a long neglected issue.
After two weeks of intense negotiations, world leaders pledged to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 by protecting at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine areas. Currently just 17 per cent and 10 per cent of the world’s land and oceans are protected.
The agreement follows another significant pledge made at the COP26 UN climate conference in 2021, where leaders and key forest nations pledged to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. G20 leaders also made a pledge in 2021 to plant one trillion trees worldwide by 2030 to mitigate climate change.
Despite rising interest and action on climate goals in recent years, some have argued that a crucial focus on biodiversity and nature has been lacking...