At COP 15, Canada can help build momentum for a new global agreement on biodiversity
For decades, scientists around the world have been sounding the alarm about the overexploitation of nature and the resultant extinction crisis that threaten our very survival.
As long ago as 1986, scientists at a U.S. National Academy of Sciences forum called biodiversity loss a crisis second only to thermo-nuclear war in terms of risk to humanity.
Yet we have failed to act, and the crisis has only worsened, driven by the degradation and destruction of habitats, and the exploitation of species.
Read the full editorial as published in the Hill Times on December 12, 2022.
Full text below.
Canada is stepping up to help win a global agreement to halt biodiversity loss, but it must also act to stop destruction of nature at home
At COP15, Canada can help build momentum for a new global agreement on biodiversity
BY GRAHAM SAUL & SANDRA SCHWARTZ DECEMBER 12, 2022
For decades, scientists around the world have been sounding the alarm about the overexploitation of nature and the resultant extinction crisis that threaten our very survival.
As long ago as 1986, scientists at a U.S. National Academy of Sciences forum called biodiversity loss a crisis second only to thermo-nuclear war in terms of risk to humanity.
Yet we have failed to act, and the crisis has only worsened, driven by the degradation and destruction of habitats, and the exploitation of species.
In Canada, hundreds of thousands of hectares of critical ecosystems—from the boreal forest to deep-sea corals and sponges—are damaged and destroyed each year, and more than one-in-five of all identified plant and animal species are at risk of extinction.
Globally, wildlife populations have declined by 70 per cent over the past 50 years. According to the United Nations, nature is declining at an unprecedented rate: one million species are threatened, including one-third of marine mammals and over 40 per cent of amphibian species.
Biodiversity matters because it provides food, clean water and air, and a safe climate upon which our survival depends. Insects support a food web that includes hundreds of thousands of species, and three-quarters of food crops.
Biodiversity matters because there is no way to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius unless we better protect, manage and restore nature.
And biodiversity matters because as humans we share this planet with countless other species and their right to existence is no less than ours.
Now is the time to bend the curve of biodiversity loss—and to finally stop the destruction of nature.
The 15th UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) is being held in Montreal right now. Its critical goal: secure a new global agreement to halt and reverse nature loss this decade.
Home to a large percentage of the world’s remaining intact forests, wetlands, grasslands, coastlines, and oceans, Canada can play a critical role in securing the global ambition needed for a new agreement.
Indeed, Canada has been hard at work laying the foundations for success in Montreal. The federal government has also made ambitious commitments to protect more land and ocean, promote nature-based climate solutions and halt and reverse biodiversity loss.
These lands are also home to over 600 Indigenous peoples’ communities who have the knowledge and ability to effectively steward important habitats, and are leading the way in Indigenous-led conservation.
According to a recent Nanos poll, more than 80 per cent of Canadians want more government action to protect land and sea, including protecting at least 30 per cent by 2030.
At COP15, Canada can help build momentum for a new global agreement on biodiversity. One of the most important ways to do this is to lead by example.
Seventeen national environmental organizations have called on the government to commit to develop a high-ambition national action plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Canada by 2030.
To be successful, the action plan needs to include commitments to end subsidies that are harmful to nature, fund new ecological corridors, and to restore 20 per cent of degraded ecosystems, in addition to protecting significantly more land and ocean.
The national groups are also calling for the following actions:
- Permanent funding to protect, with Indigenous leadership, 30 per cent of lands and oceans in Canada by 2030;
- Expanded support for nature-based solutions to better value and conserve Canada’s biodiverse, carbon-rich ecosystems, while safeguarding and protecting Indigenous rights;
- New measures to protect aquatic ecosystems through improved management of transboundary waters, fish habitat, and ocean; and
- Funding to help developing countries protect biodiversity and meet global goals.
The world has delayed action to protect biodiversity for too long. We cannot afford another decade of broken promises and missed targets.
With the world’s eyes on Montreal, now is the time to act.
Canada can lead the way to a new global framework for biodiversity protection—but it must also act now—through a comprehensive and well-funded plan that centres the rights and leadership of Indigenous people—to halt the destruction of nature at home.
____________________________
Graham Saul is the executive director of Nature Canada. He has more than 25 years of experience working on social and environmental justice issue. He has been executive director of Climate Action Network Canada and was a founding member and executive director of Ecology Ottawa.
Sandra Schwartz is the national executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. With master’s degrees in management and environmental studies and over 20 years of experience, she is a strong advocate for sound environmental policy and has championed progressive ideas for tackling climate change.