Two years after its planned date the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP15 is starting in Montreal, Canada. This two weeks conference aims to negotiate a new set of global goals to protect nature over the next decade. The world is facing a 6th mass extinction driven primarily by human activity. The latest WWF Living Planet Report shows that we have seen a 69% average decline in wildlife populations since 1970. Biodiversity affects everything and all of us and this 15th COP is a key rendezvous of international negotiations. The conference will gather representatives from the 196 countries that have ratified the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity. It's good to know that for example, the United States are not part of these 196 countries. So some big players at this conference will be the EU countries, as well as the Africa Group and countries from South America. The representatives will discuss and hopefully, agree on a new biodiversity framework that was presented last year and includes 21 targets to meet by 2030. Some of the key points are: - The renowned "30 by 30": a draft target to protect 30% of land and sea by the end of the decade - Proposals to limit the spread of invasive species - Including relevant indigenous knowledge in decision making - Reduce and repurpose $500bn a year of environmentally harmful subsidies - Fully integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, planning, and development processes - Mandatory nature disclosures for all businesses - Reducing pesticide use More to be found in the text here: https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/abb5/591f/2e46096d3f0330b08ce87a45/wg2020-03-03-en.pdf A lot is at stake and after two years of delay, experts are worried that this conference might not have the intended effect as we maybe lost momentum. So far richer countries have lacked engagement when it comes to putting resources into protecting biodiversity and money will be a key sticking point during the upcoming weeks. The 30x30 target has also been criticised as it's seen as the magical solution to our biodiversity crisis but could impact local communities. We just had a COP, but it's important that we follow this COP as well! https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/05/making-sense-of-cop15-what-to-look-out-for-in-montreal https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/5/cop15-why-does-the-un-biodiversity-conference-matter