UN biodiversity Summit

UN biodiversity Summit

Part of: Prelims and GS II – International Relations and GS-III – Biodiversity

Context A key UN summit tasked with protecting biodiversity opened in China online, as countries meet to protect ecosystems and prevent mass extinction weeks before the COP26 climate conference.

Key takeaways 

• Beijing is the world’s biggest polluter.
• It has sought to position itself in recent years as a world leader on environmental issues.
• The online summit shall hold a face-to-face meeting in April 2022.
• It will see parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) discuss new targets for protecting ecosystems by 2030.
• It shall also debate on the “30 by 30” plan to give 30% of land and oceans protected status by 2030 
  • It is a measure supported by a broad coalition of nations, as well as a goal to halve the use of chemicals in agriculture and stop creating plastic waste.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

• It is known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. 
• The convention has three main goals: 
  • the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
  • the sustainable use of its components; 
  • and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources. 
• Objective: To develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
• It is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.
• The convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. 
• It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.