New biodiversity commitments announced as leaders declare COP15 priority

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (at the podium and on the screens) speaks during the opening of the General Debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 20, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Rui)

Leaders reaffirmed their commitments to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of land and ocean by 2030, transform production and consumption to be well within planetary boundaries, and ensure an equitable transition to nature-positive economies.

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- New commitments aimed at catalyzing biodiversity finance and conservation were unveiled in New York at a high-level event convened Tuesday on the sidelines of the general debate of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, Xinhua learned Thursday.

According to a press release issued by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the new initiatives announced include 870 million euros of new funding from the German government, a 10-point plan for financing biodiversity, and the next phase of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People. An accelerator for action on biodiversity was also announced.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that "Germany resolutely supports the idea of an ambitious global framework on biodiversity. Such a framework needs a strong implementation mechanism that sets us on a path to saving and restoring our ecosystems."

"Protecting at least 30 percent of our land and oceans plays a crucial role in this," said Scholz.

The second phase of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) will be held in Montreal, Canada from Dec. 5 to 17 this year.

Countdown to COP15: Landmark Leaders' Event for a Nature-Positive World saw world leaders declare the success of COP15 a priority for their governments and call for all countries to work together to secure an ambitious global biodiversity agreement in Montreal in the face of an escalating nature crisis that is threatening health, food security, and livelihoods, while undermining climate action and sustainable development, according to the release.

Marco Lambertini, director-general of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International, delivers a speech via video during the opening ceremony of the Ecological Civilization Forum of the first part of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

Attending leaders reaffirmed their commitment to reverse biodiversity loss and secure a nature-positive world by 2030, including through adopting a transformative biodiversity agreement at COP15 in Montreal.

Leaders reaffirmed their commitments to protect and conserve at least 30 percent of land and ocean by 2030, transform production and consumption to be well within planetary boundaries, and ensure an equitable transition to nature-positive economies.

Commenting on the leaders' statements, Director General of WWF International Marco Lambertini said that "the new biodiversity finance and conservation initiatives announced today provide critical momentum ahead of the COP15 biodiversity conference in December."

"These pledges must be fulfilled over the next few months as nature cannot survive on stagnant or forgotten promises - change must be delivered," Lambertini said. ■