On Monday 11 October the Council of the EU gave the green light to the European Commission to approve the ‘Kunming Declaration’, on behalf of the EU, and it is expected to be adopted by the Parties to the International Convention on Biological Diversity, at the end of the political segment of the first part of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15 - 11-12 October).
The green light was given without debate on the day the high-level session of this international event began online, in preparation for the second part of the conference in China (25 April-8 May 2022), where the post-2020 global framework for biodiversity is to be adopted.
The EU intends to play a leading role with its Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which aims, among other things, to protect and restore at least 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030, while one of the targets of the future global framework is still dividing the different parties (see EUROPE 12797/10, 12784/7).
The declaration ‘Ecological Civilization - Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth’ is non-binding. In adopting it, world leaders make the following political commitments, amongst others:
- ensure the development, adoption and implementation of an effective post-2020 global biodiversity framework, including provisions for means of implementation and adequate monitoring, reporting and review mechanisms to reverse the current trend of biodiversity loss and to ensure that biodiversity is put on a path to recovery by 2030 at the latest, as a step towards achieving the 2050 vision of ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’;
- support, where necessary, the development, adoption and implementation of an effective implementation plan and an equally effective action plan for capacity building on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety;
- work within their respective governments to continue to promote the inclusion of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in decision-making processes - including by involving the multiple values of biodiversity into policies, regulations, planning processes, poverty reduction strategies, economic accountability - and strengthening cross-sectoral biodiversity coordination mechanisms;
- accelerate and strengthen the development and updating of national biodiversity strategies and action plans to ensure effective implementation of the post-2020 global framework at a national level;
- improve the effectiveness and increase the global coverage of conservation and management areas by strengthening and establishing effective systems of protected areas and adopting other effective area-based conservation measures and land-use planning tools to protect species and genetic diversity and reduce or eliminate threats to biodiversity. All this should be while recognising the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and ensuring their full and effective participation;
- strengthen the sustainable use of biodiversity to meet people’s needs;
- strengthen the global legal framework and national environmental laws and their implementation to protect biodiversity, combat illegal use of it and take into account, respect and promote human rights obligations in actions to protect biodiversity;
- increase efforts through the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol, to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources of biodiversity, including associated traditional knowledge, taking into account information on the digital sequences of genetic resources.
At their informal meeting on 6 October, almost all EU environment ministers stressed the need to include biodiversity in all relevant policies, according to the Council President, Slovenian Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak.
EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said he had asked all Member States to increase funding for biodiversity, with the EU pledging to double its external funding for this purpose, particularly for vulnerable countries.
The Kunming Declaration: https://bit.ly/3lvhSDM (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)