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The UK Government is today (7 December) calling on the world to unite and agree a deal that delivers for nature and ends species extinction.
The 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) is underway in Canada from today to 19th December. The meeting will set the framework for the next decade of global action on biodiversity loss.
We are losing nature worldwide faster than ever, with more than 1 million species at risk of extinction, and clear evidence of habitat loss due to the decline of coral reefs, rainforests and peatlands globally. Nature is the foundation of our livelihoods, supporting food production, economic prosperity and security.
The UK has already led the way in driving action to tackle these challenges and is a global leader on environment and nature. Under the UK’s COP presidency, 145 countries – representing more than 90% of the world’s forests – signed a pledge to halt deforestation and land degradation by 2030 through sustainable development and rural transformation. At home, we have introduced an Environment Act that delivers a raft of measures to protect our rivers, curb deforestation and protect habitats and will be backed by a set of legally binding targets due to be published soon. The government has also pledged £750 million in Nature to Climate Funds to restore peatlands, drive tree plantations and create rich wildlife habitat.
Hosting a reception with leading environmentalists at the Natural History Museum (Wednesday 7 December), the Environment Secretary will reiterate the importance of reaching a strong agreement to restore and protect nature at this year’s summit and set out the UK’s role in helping to drive this.
Environment Secretary Therese Coffey is expected to say:
After two years of intensive global efforts to create ambitious environmental goals, it is critical that the world agrees to collectively address the decline of nature and habitats and chart a path to recovery.
WWF Chief Executive Tanya Steele said:
COP15 is about protecting our own life support systems. Nature is the source of our health, security and prosperity but WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 revealed the sheer scale of its losses, with global wildlife population sizes declining by an average of 69% since 1970.
The stakes are high, and time is running out. This summit is an opportunity that the world should not miss to agree a global deal to reverse the damage to nature by 2030. World leaders must deliver a landmark agreement for nature to bring our world back to life.
At the conference, the UK will negotiate for:
- Halt and reverse biodiversity loss
- Protect 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.
- Stop species extinction
- Increase resource mobilization from all sources to fund global efforts to stop the loss of nature
- Eliminate environmentally damaging subsidies
- Align all financial flows with the goals and targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework
- Agreed mechanisms for holding countries accountable for implementing the framework
- Share the benefits arising from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources.
The UK Government is also today pledging to launch a new multi-million fund next spring as a key part of our plan to help prevent and reverse species decline in England. The new funding will support habitat creation and ecosystem restoration, including some of England’s most special sites for nature, and help deliver on our own ambitious commitments, including our legally binding 2030 species targets and ’30by30′ pledge.
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