The Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 starts today October 11 through October 15, preliminary works to COP26 in Glasgow. Biodiversity is declining at a rate unprecedented in human history, with one million animal and plant species currently at risk of extinction. All this is mainly the fault of human activities: changes in land use, over-exploitation of certain species, climate change, pollution. In 2010, the member states of the CBD had set 20 targets to safeguard biodiversity and reduce human pressure on nature. These targets should have been met by 2020. On the contrary, none of them has been achieved. Concrete answers are expected from the negotiations that will begin today and continue throughout the week in order to reverse the trend.
The new text under discussion among delegates aims to establish a new package of actions, 21 in all, to be achieved by 2030. Among them, the protection of at least 30 percent of land and marine areas, and the reduction of at least two-thirds of the total amount of pesticides used in agriculture. But it also aims to decrease by at least 500 billion dollars per year the capital granted to sectors and activities deemed harmful to biodiversity.
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