PRESS RELEASE

Momentum Builds for Protecting at Least 30% of Land and Oceans by 2030 at Rome Biodiversity Meeting 

Protected Area Target is Key to Addressing Extinction Crisis

This week, delegates from more than 100 countries and territories gathered in Rome for the first round of negotiations on a Paris Agreement-style global treaty to address the extinction crisis threatening one million species worldwide and the ecosystems on which humanity relies to survive. Though many delegates returned home early in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, negotiations continued, revealing both points of consensus and contention on how to solve the biodiversity crisis.  

 Campaign for Nature has issued the following response:

Pamela Castillo Barahona, Vice Minister of Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of the Government of Costa Rica 

“This week key countries backed the critical proposal that Costa Rica is championing to protect at least 30% of our planet by 2030. But now we only have eight months to get the rest of the world onboard and get finance commited to make this ambitious agreement feasible.”

Brian O’Donnell, Director, Campaign for Nature

“We’re encouraged that key delegates from around the world participating in biodiversity negotiations this week rallied around a goal to protect at least 30% of the Earth by 2030, an achievable and science-backed solution to help address the biodiversity crisis.

 But the true test of their willingness to protect these lands and oceans is whether or not they commit sufficient funding to ensure at-risk plants and animals are effectively conserved under this target. Right now, more finance flows to the destruction of nature than to its protection. 

 Many delegates voiced their support for partnering with Indigenous peoples in efforts to safeguard biodiversity. A growing body of peer-reviewed research finds these groups, using their traditional knowledge, passed down through generations, are the best stewards of nature.  

 But with their lands increasingly under threat, Indigenous peoples and local communities cannot continue safeguarding biodiversity without strong land rights. Countries must do more to support these rights. 

It’s also clear from the negotiations that it will take more than just protected area commitments to safeguard the world’s biodiversity.  We must address the drivers of biodiversity loss.”

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Background:

• Their statement comes in advance of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Kunming, China (15-28 October 2020), where the final agreement is expected to be signed. 

• At the meeting in Rome (February 24-29), negotiators from 190 countries wrangled over the details laid out in a “zero draft” of the agreement released in January. Featured in the zero draft text is a target to protect at least 30% of the planet—land and sea—by 2030. 

• The meeting is a key stop along the road to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Kunming, China (15-28 October 2020), where the final agreement is expected to be signed. 

Available for interviews:

• Director of Campaign for Nature, Brian O’Donnell