30 by 30 at 3.30am

COP 15 STRIKES HISTORIC DEAL

At 3.30am local time on Monday 19th December 2022, after four years of negotiations, two weeks of recent discussions in Montreal and a final 7 hours of wrangling, news broke that an agreement had been struck at COP 15, to protect 30% of the planet for nature by 2030.

Currently just 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas of the world are protected, but the new accord is aimed at saving our land, oceans and species from pollution, degradation and the climate crisis by the end of the decade. Governments also agreed urgent action on halting extinctions of threatened species at human hands, and to protect vital ecosystems such as rainforests and wetlands and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Countries also agreed to manage the remaining 70% of the planet in a way that protects biodiversity and ensure that businesses disclose risks and impacts from their operations upon nature. The text calls on wealthy countries to increase financial aid to the developing world to $20 billion annually by 2025, rising to $30 billion per year by 2030 and 23 targets in the accord also include cutting environmentally destructive farming subsidies, reducing the risk from pesticides and tackling invasive species.

As a previous 10-year agreement failed to fully achieve a single target at the global level, the new pact includes provisions to make targets measurable and to monitor countries' progress. "Together, we take a bold step forward to protect nature, to protect the air that we breathe, the water that we drink," said Steven Guilbeault, Canada's Environment and Climate Minister who also called COP15 "the most significant conference of the United Nations on biodiversity in history."

A coalition of over 25 faith-based organizations representing every major religious tradition participated for the first time at COP15 and endorsed recommendations to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which they'll help translate into language more appropriate to faith communities going forwards. Gopal Patel, co-convener of Faiths at COP15 said "Given the immense potential of faith communities to mobilize people at local levels, we are uniquely positioned to play a leading role in creating a nature positive world where all life flourishes."