Explainer-What the world's nature-rich nations want out of a global
conservation deal
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[December 17, 2022]
By Gloria Dickie
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Tangled expanses of Amazon rainforest, high
mountains of the Himalayas, and cloud-shrouded forests are just some of
the unique landscapes contained within the world's most nature-rich
nations. And protecting these ecosystems, experts say, could help save
the planet.
Governments are trying to work out a new global agreement to guide
conservation and wildlife protection through 2030 at a U.N. summit in
Montreal this week. Of the nearly 200 countries assembled, five are
considered to be among the world's most biodiverse nations measured in
the number of unique species.
Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, and Colombia boast more than 131,000
plant species, around 6,000 birds, and nearly 3,000 mammals between
them, according to data compiled from the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature, BirdLife International and the U.N. Environment
Programme. That's more than a third of all the worlds flowering plants,
and more than half of all bird and mammal species on Earth.
Still, that's not necessarily enough to garner them any special
treatment in the talks, experts said, which run on a consensus basis
meaning all parties must agree.
"Biodiversity in every country matters, so we don't want to say that
Brazil's biodiversity is worth more than, say, Mongolia," said Alfred
DeGemmis, an international policy expert with the Wildlife Conservation
Society.
However, "there is a need to listen to those countries who will have
significant responsibilities when it comes to biodiversity in the
finance space," he said, noting that countries with a lot of nature are
the ones that will have to implement any new deal.
Here's what some of the world's most nature-rich nations want to happen
at the talks.
BRAZIL
Some 60% of the world's largest rainforest the Amazon falls within
Brazil's borders, containing unique and charismatic critters such as the
giant anteater, two-toed sloth, and poison dart frog.
Around half of the entire Amazon Basin is currently under some form of
protection, and to keep it that way, Brazil has championed financing in
the U.N. talks.
Developing countries are asking that a fund be set up to support their
conservation efforts, with $100 billion per year, or 1% of global GDP,
flowing from wealthy nations to the developing world until 2030.
Any deal "must be accompanied by approval of a commensurately robust
package on resource mobilization," the Brazilian delegation said during
a meeting on Dec. 10.
Brazil has more than a third of its land under some level of protection,
but has not yet formally supported a global pact to protect 30% of land
and sea by 2030, known as 30-by-30.
CHINA
China holds the presidency of this year's summit, and the talks were
initially scheduled to be held in Kunming a city in Yunnan province
featuring towering karst cliffs and deep mountain gorges.
As president of the negotiations, China has to strike a balance and find
an agreement among all parties if they want a successful outcome.
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An aerial view shows the Amazon
rainforest near the city of Uruara, Para state, Brazil, April 20,
2013. Picture taken April 20, 2013. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
"Because they are president, frankly, they want to be
a little bit
back from being too loud on [finance] issues," said Norway's
Minister of Climate and Environment Espen Barth Eide.
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of a
$237.47 million fund to support nature protection in developing
countries.
China has designated 25% of its land as "ecological conservation"
areas. But it has not yet supported 30-by-30.
COLOMBIA
Scientists are still mapping out the full extent of Colombia's
biodiversity, after much of the country's jungles were off limits to
field research due to decades-long civil conflicts.
Since a 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), scientists have discovered many new plant species
in the country's forests.
Colombia is arguably the most ambitious and most biodiverse nation
at the talks. The government supports the 30-by-30 goal and is
advocating strongly for the inclusion of indigenous people and local
communities in the final deal.
"The least we can do the minimum for the survival of species is
to protect at least 30%, based on science," said Colombia's Minister
of Environment and Sustainable Development Susana Muhamad during a
meeting on Friday. "It should be 50%."
MEXICO
This North American country contains a diverse landscape that ranges
from dry desert to mangrove swamps to cloud forest to jungle.
The Mexican delegation has taken a fairly progressive approach to
the talks, and supports the 30-by-30 goal, with around 15% of lands
currently protected. Negotiators say they also want to see numerical
targets for the phase out of pesticides a divisive goal which has
drawn pushback from Brazil and China.
However, Mexico has been less keen to address reducing the footprint
of consumption.
INDONESIA
An archipelago of more than 10,000 islands, this forest nation has
made a fortune on palm oil often at the expense of the country's
critically endangered orangutans, scientists say.
Habitat destruction from palm oil plantations, logging and mining,
along with hunting, halved the orangutan population on the island of
Borneo shared between Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei from 1999
to 2015, according to a 2018 study in the journal Current Biology.
But Indonesia has so far remained relatively unengaged in the talks,
observers told Reuters.
The country has said it will put around 10% of its territorial
waters under protection by the end of this decade, and it's the only
large forest nation where deforestation is currently declining.
"Indonesia supports voluntary commitments with appropriate
flexibility based on national circumstances," said Indonesian Deputy
Environment and Forestry Minister Alue Dohong at talks on Friday.
(Reporting by Gloria Dickie; editing by Diane Craft)
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