Countries agree to protect third of planet by 2030 at COP15 summit

• Increase finance flow for developing nations to $20b by 2025
• Summit is missed opportunity to protect rights of indigenous peoples, says AI

About 196 countries, yesterday, agreed to protect a third of the natural world by 2030 in a landmark deal aimed at safeguarding biodiversity.

The Guardian learnt that details of the deal, inked at the COP15 United Nations biodiversity summit hosted by Canada, include targets for protecting vital ecosystems, such as rainforests, wetlands and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Measures agreed also include a pledge to increase flow of finance to developing nations (to care for nature) to $20 billion £16.5 billion by 2025 and, at least, $30 billion (£24.7 billion) by 2030.

There are 2030 targets to halve global food waste, excess nutrients and risks posed by pesticides, reduce to ‘near zero’ the loss of areas of wildlife-rich habitat, and reduce by $500 billion (£411.7 billion) a year government subsidies that harm nature.

Others are: maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecosystems, including halting species extinction and maintaining genetic diversity.

The agreement stands after days of intense negotiations, which started December 7 to 19, where ministers made impassioned speeches about the need to agree on clear goals to put nature on a path to recovery by the end of the decade.

Delegates convened at full session of the summit early yesterday, after hours of delays, but then agreed to the text quickly.

The summit agreement will ensure that the benefits of resources from nature, like medicines that come from plants, are shared fairly and equally and that indigenous peoples’ rights are protected.

It also seeks to ensure that resources pooled for biodiversity and conservation efforts get to where they are needed.

China, which was in charge of the meeting, brought down the gavel on the deal, despite a last minute objection from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

One controversial issue at the summit was how to fund conservation efforts in parts of the globe that hosts some of the world’s most outstanding biodiversity.

President of COP 15, Minister Huang Runqui, declared the deal approved despite objections from the DRC, which said it couldn’t back the deal.

The Senior international policy advisor of the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, Georgina Chandler, said: “People and nature should both be better off, thanks to the deal struck in Montreal. Now it’s done, governments, companies and communities need to figure out how they’ll help make these commitments a reality.”

The UN environment programme said nature is critical to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees, adding that adoption of a bold global biodiversity framework that addresses the key drivers of nature loss is needed to secure human’s health and well-being, alongside that of the planet.

MEANWHILE, Amnesty International (AI), yesterday, said the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), which aims to preserve biodiversity globally by calling on states to commit to declaring 30 per cent of the earth protected for conservation by 2030, is a missed opportunity to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

AI, in a statement, said: “This COP15 conference offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to set ambitious goals aiming to protect the diversity of flora and fauna on the planet. While the accord contains a number of highly important environmental targets and human rights safeguards, which states will now be held accountable for, it fails to fully protect and uphold indigenous peoples’ rights.”

AI Adviser on Indigenous Rights, Chris Chapman, said: “States have failed to fully recognise indigenous peoples’ immense contribution to conserving biodiversity, putting them at greater risk of human rights violations.

“Considering the gaps in the framework, monitoring the deal’s implementation and combatting any human rights violations arising from the establishment of protected areas will now prove absolutely crucial.”

Chapman added: “In the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed today at COP15, states present at the conference did not wholly incorporate indigenous peoples’ demand for their lands and territories to be fully recognised as a category of conserved area, a plea that was intended to protect them from the predations they often experience in areas, such as state-run national parks.”