COP15 biodiversity meeting seeks to save 'planet in crisis'
The Hindu
The COP15 biodiversity meeting follows crucial climate change talks in Egypt in November, where leaders failed to forge any breakthroughs on scaling down fossil fuels and slashing planet-warming emissions
Delegates from nearly 200 countries meet in Montreal next week to hammer out a new global biodiversity deal to protect ecosystems and species from further human destruction.
The meeting follows crucial climate change talks in Egypt in November, where leaders failed to forge any breakthroughs on scaling down fossil fuels and slashing planet-warming emissions.
Observers are hoping the COP15 biodiversity talks in Montreal will deliver a landmark deal to protect nature and reverse the damage humans have done to forests, wetlands, waterways, and the millions of species that live in them.
Around 50% of the global economy is dependent on nature, but scientists warn that humanity needs to drastically, and urgently rethink its relationship with the natural world as fears of the sixth era of mass extinction grow.
"Our planet is in crisis," said Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the head of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), at a briefing ahead of the talks, adding that a global agreement on biodiversity was "crucial to ensure that the future of humankind on planet Earth is sustained".
So far, humanity has proven woeful at this.
The so-called post-2020 biodiversity framework, delayed by two years because of the pandemic, will map out an official plan for nature until mid-century for most countries, with the exception of the United States, which has not signed up.
With a new government in place in Delhi, Singapore hopes to schedule the Ministerial Roundtable with India shortly, says Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. In an exclusive interview, he speaks about the impact of the elections on ties, the “missed opportunity” of RCEP and the new buzz around Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.