Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

Table of Contents

Background of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

UN CBD’s COP15 was originally planned for Kunming, China in 2020, but was postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and later split into a two-part event.
Phase one took place virtually, from 11 to 15 October 2021. And the second phase of COP15 was held in Montreal, Canada, from 7 to 19 December 2022.

Conservation, Protection and Restoration

30 by 30 target (Protection): The countries have committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030. Indigenous and traditional territories will also count toward this goal.
- Currently 17% and 10% of the world’s terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under protection.
Restoration: The deal also aspires to restore 30% of degraded lands and waters throughout the decade, up from an earlier aim of 20%.
Conservation: The countries will strive to prevent destroying intact landscapes and areas with a lot of species, bringing those losses “close to zero by 2030”.

Money for Nature

Signatories aim to ensure $200 billion per year is channeled to conservation initiatives, from public and private sources.
Wealthier countries should contribute at least $20 billion of this every year by 2025, and at least $30 billion a year by 2030.

Reporting by Big Companies

Large companies and financial institutions should analyze and report how their operations affect and are affected by biodiversity issues.
This reporting is intended to progressively promote biodiversity, reduce the risks posed to business by the natural world, and encourage sustainable production.

Harmful Subsidies

Countries committed to identify subsidies that deplete biodiversity by 2025, and then eliminate, phase out or reform them.
They agreed to slash those incentives by at least $500 billion a year by 2030, and increase incentives that are positive for conservation.

Other Important Targets for 2030

Food waste: Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation.
Pesticides: Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals.
Invasive alien species: Reduce the introduction of invasive alien species at least by half by 2030.

Monitoring and Reporting Progress

All the agreed aims will be supported by processes to monitor progress in the future, in a bid to prevent this agreement meeting the same fate as similar targets that were agreed in Aichi, Japan, in 2010, and never met.
National action plans will be set and reviewed, following a similar format used for greenhouse gas emissions under U.N.-led efforts to curb climate change.

Establishment: It is a multilateral treaty under the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit 1992 and entered into force in December 1993.
Three main goals of the convention:
- The conservation of biological diversity
- The sustainable use of biodiversity
- The fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
Headquarters: Montreal, Canada.
Members: Currently 196 countries are party to the CBD. India is also a party to the Convention. India ratified it in 1994. The United States of America (USA) has not ratified the Convention.
Supplementary agreements: The convention has two supplementary agreements under it namely,
- The Cartagena Protocol: Adopted in 2000. It seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by genetically modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
- The Nagoya Protocol: Adopted in 2010. Its aim is the implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
  - Aichi Biodiversity Targets are an outcome of Nagoya Protocol to protect biodiversity.
India enacted Biological Diversity Act in 2002 for giving effect to the provisions of the CBD.