Environment

Cop15 nations pledge to protect 30% of planet by 2030 in landmark deal

Toronto, Canada, Dec 19 (EFE).- A new conservation deal to protect a third of the planet by the end of the decade was reached on Monday after protracted negotiations at the United Nations Cop15 Biodiversity Summit in Montreal.

The New Framework for Nature has been dubbed a “historic agreement to halt and reverse nature loss” and the unprecedented plan will place 30% of the world under protection by 2030.

“The global community now has a roadmap to protect and restore nature, and use it sustainably – for current and future generations. And investing into nature also means fighting climate change,” European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement after the agreement was announced.

The deal will ensure that areas dedicated to agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably, with a substantial increase in the use of methods that favor biodiversity.

The agreement also contains measurable targets to protect a third of the world’s marine and land areas as well as to restore 30% of degraded ecosystems which will be backed by the Global Biodiversity Fund.

The new deal will aim to mobilize at least $200 billion per year “in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private,” by 2030, the UN agency reported.

It will also see the richest countries hiking up financial flows to developing nations to at least $20 billion a year by 2025 and $30 billion a year by 2030.

Subsidies that harm biodiversity will be phased out or reformed by 2030 while incentives for sustainable activities will be boosted.

The landmark deal also pledges to end the loss of areas of “high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity,” as well as to cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce overconsumption, the UN Biodiversity report added. EFE

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