Biodiversity loss: more than just an environmental crisis

By Dr Lissa Batey, Senior Marine Ecologist

In the midst of a global climate and biodiversity crisis, how are our land and seas faring as world leaders come together?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that up to 50% of nature needs to be kept intact on land to have a chance of holding the Paris climate limit of 1.5^oC of warming. Given that approximately 50% of land has already been transformed by agriculture, urban development and infrastructure, there is no more room to expand without harming nature. Biodiversity loss must be halted now.

The same is true in our seas where destructive fishing practices, deep-sea mining and large-scale development are disturbing the seafloor – an important carbon store. We need to allow nature to recover.

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity summit (COP16) took place from 21^st October to 2^nd November in Cali, Columbia. Although there were some small wins, many were dismayed by the lack of progress, branding the event underwhelming after the historic adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at COP15 two years ago.

Progress towards protecting 30% of Earth’s land and sea wasn’t what many had hoped for. Only 44 countries out of the 196 signatories to the GBF had provided full submissions of their biodiversity conservation strategies within their own borders by the end of COP16, as originally called for.

Furthermore, it is not enough to simply designate sites, although that is undoubtedly the first step, sites will requirement management, enforcement, monitoring and financing.

That said, in the early hours of the 31^st October, delegates to COP16 finally agreed on a protocol for identifying the protection of unique parts of the high seas – the two-thirds of the world’s oceans that are international waters.

Another highlight was the formal inclusion of indigenous peoples and local communities in negotiations going forward.

But finance for biodiversity and the mechanisms for its delivery were discussed intensely without resolution.

The European Commission’s Biodiversity strategy for 2030 not only called for an increase in protected areas to meet the 30% global target, but also 10% of areas with very high biodiversity and climate value to be strictly protected. However, there is still a lot of work to do in order to meet both of these targets.

In England, the UK Government has recently published its plans for how it intends to meet the global target, but many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been critical about the progress being made.

Last Monday (11^th November), marked the opening of the 29^th United Nations annual conference on climate change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. Widely regarded as the finance COP, boosting financial support for countries tackling climate change is high on the agenda. 

It is without doubt that there is good work happening in many countries across the world, whether with public or private financing land and sea is being set aside for recovery, but is it enough to turn the tide on the climate and biodiversity crises? Will the two crises be seen as one, given that they are inexplicably linked? – You cannot tackle one without the other. Only time will tell…