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Updated October 11th, 2021 at 06:22 IST

United Nations calls on nations to ramp up funding to save biodiversity

United Nations wants world to commit to protecting 30% of their land by 2030, a pledge taken by developed nations of world including the US, the official said.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
United Nations
IMAGE: UNSPLASH | Image:self
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The international community needs to ramp up investments to protect wildlife and prevent species loss, a senior UN official said on Sunday ahead of “COP15” biodiversity talks new round of global talks on biodiversity. David Cooper, deputy executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, told a briefing on October 10 that the global players, leaders, and ministers attending a virtual meeting in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, this week should mark more ambition in terms of ecosystems and species conservation, and give “clear political direction” to negotiators that will hit final deal in May in Kunming in 2022. The latter also emphasized that more focus was needed to achieve the goals of the post-2020 agreement that aims at reversing the decades of habitat destruction caused by human encroachment and climate change, according to several reports. 

As per the environmentalists, protecting habitats and slowing extinction rates was of utmost importance as there was no time left to lose. Cooper stated, that while the governments have failed to meet one of the 2020 biodiversity targets set in Japan’s Aichi a decade earlier, the level of urgency portrayed by the world, was still not enough. “Currently, most countries spend orders of magnitude more money subsidizing activities that destroy biodiversity than we spend on preserving it – this will have to change,” the UN official stated. He went on to add, that the UN wants the world to commit to protecting 30 per cent of their land by 2030, a pledge taken by the developed nations of the world, including the US. Despite implementing an “ecological protection red line” system, China, however, did not commit to those goals. But the Asin country has still managed to exempt at least 25 per cent of its land from the developers.

More commitments needed to protect biodiversity 

It is, however, important for all countries to protect more of their ecosystems, Cooper told reporters at the conference. He added, that more commitments were needed to tackle biodiversity loss and save 70 per cent. Protecting biodiversity has become more significant after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN official stated. “We need to make sure (the incentive) amplifies biodiversity and doesn’t add to the problem,” he reportedly said. “If you look around, the stimulus packages are making things worse rather than better worldwide,” he added. 

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had urged world leaders and institutions to safeguard biodiversity and tackle global climate change with urgency at a global summit in southern France. Macron made the remarks while speaking at the World Conservation Congress in the southern city of Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast. The conference, which is held every four years, focuses on urgent actions needed to protect wildlife. The French president also announced the creation of a new global event for conservation and protection of the world's high seas that comprises of half the planet's surface.

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Published October 11th, 2021 at 06:22 IST

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