Thomson Reuters Foundation

January 11, 2021

A global coalition to protect at least 30% of the planet's land and ocean by 2030 has swelled its ranks to about 50 countries, as governments said at a summit hosted by France Monday that biodiversity loss and climate change should be tackled jointly.

First launched in 2020, the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People added more than 20 nations, including Japan, Germany, Kenya, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Ecuador.

Its member countries combined are home to an estimated 30% of animal and plant species on land and a quarter of carbon stores in biomass and soil, the coalition said.

Their boundaries also contain 28% of ocean areas that are most important to preserve global marine biodiversity, and more than a third of carbon stocks in the Earth's seas.

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La Nación

January 11, 2021
Este lunes 11 de enero de 2021 será el lanzamiento de la Coalición de Alta Ambición para la Naturaleza y las Personas (HAC, por sus siglas en inglés), iniciativa que busca proteger, como mínimo, 30% de las superficies terrestre y marina del planeta de aquí al 2030.

Se trata de una iniciativa enfocada en el secuestro de carbono, para salvar especies amenazadas, la cual es liderada por Costa Rica y Francia, con el Reino Unido como aliado en temas marítimos.

El proyecto será presentado en el marco de la cuarta edición de la cumbre One Planet Summit, organizada por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU), Francia y el Banco Mundial.

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France 24

January 11, 2021
There is a growing coalition of nations calling on countries to protect 30 percent of the planet by 2030 under the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, with Costa Rica leading the charge. Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada tells FRANCE 24 that losing ecosystems and biodiversity creates problems for humanity.

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Der Spiegel

January 11, 2021
Auf dem Klima- und Artenschutzgipfel »One Planet Summit« beraten Staats- und Regierungschefs aus aller Welt über verstärkte Bemühungen zur Rettung der Umwelt. Den ersten Schritt macht dabei Frankreich. Gastgeber Präsident Emmanuel Macron warb bei dem virtuellen Treffen am Montag in Paris für ein Projekt in Afrika, das mit Milliarden-Investitionen gefördert werden soll: die große Grüne Mauer.

Dafür sollen Tausende Kilometer Bäume wie ein grünes Band in der Sahelzone gepflanzt werden – von Dakar bis Dschibuti. Dies soll die Ausbreitung der Sahara und somit die Wüstenbildung stoppen und die Region auch vor Hungersnöten und Dürre schützen. Das Projekt ist seit vielen Jahren geplant, kam bisher jedoch nur langsam voran. Die Sahelzone in Afrika ist besonders vom Klimawandel betroffen.

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Campaign For Nature

January 11, 2021
As the natural world continues to disappear at an unprecedented rate, a group of over 50 countries—which (as of 10 January 2021) together harbour 30% of global terrestrial biodiversity (using vertebrates as a proxy) and a quarter of the world’s terrestrial carbon stores (biomass and soil), and 28% of ocean biodiversity priority areas and over a third of the ocean carbon stores—have announced their commitment to protect at least 30% of the globe’s land and ocean by 2030, and to champion an ambitious global deal to halt species loss and protect ecosystems that are vital to human health and economic security. Their announcement kicks off what Costa Rica, France and the United Kingdom call an urgent year for action on biodiversity and the climate. 

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Agencia EFE

January 11, 2021
Medio centenar de países se comprometió este lunes a proteger al menos el 30 % de la superficie terrestre y marina para el año 2030, en el marco de una alianza internacional encabezada por Francia, Costa Rica y el Reino Unido.

La llamada Coalición de Alta Ambición para las Personas y la Naturaleza fue lanzada oficialmente durante la celebración en París y por videoconferencia de la cumbre One Planet Summit, que engloba los esfuerzos en favor de la protección de la biodiversidad.

Su objetivo es ambicioso: según indicó el presidente costarricense, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, actualmente solo está protegido el 15 % de toda la superficie terrestre y el 7 % de la marina.

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Washington Post

January 11, 2021
At least 50 countries committed to protecting 30% of the planet, including land and sea, over the next decade to halt species extinction and address climate change issues, during a global summit Monday aimed at protecting the world’s biodiversity.

About 30 leaders, government officials and heads of international organizations participated in the One Planet Summit, which was being held by videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic. Top U.S. officials were notably absent, as were the leaders of Russia, India and Brazil.

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Le Monde

January 11, 2021
To stimulate a global political momentum so that 2021 is indeed the “super year of biodiversity” that 2020 could not be. This is the ambition of the One Planet Summit organized by France, in a half-virtual, half-face format.

While a new roadmap to protect the living should be adopted at the end of the year in China, at the 15 th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, thirty decision-makers (German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chinese First Deputy Prime Minister Han Zheng, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen ...) were to set out new commitments, Monday 11 January.

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CBC

January 11, 2021
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced that Canada would commit up to $55 million to a United Nations initiative aimed at preventing further degradation of land and protecting vital ecosystems.

The investment in the UN Land Degradation Neutrality Fund (LDN) will go toward projects in low- and middle-income countries, Trudeau said. The LDN invests in private sector land sustainability projects to restore land degraded by environmental damage and human activity.

"When sea levels rise, when droughts become the norm and not the exception, this has catastrophic effects on national habitats," Trudeau told the virtual One Planet Summit.

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Delfino

January 11, 2021
The Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Asociación Costa Rica por Siempre launched the first Latin American fund aimed at financing sustainability in the long-term conservation of the 30x30 goals.

30x30 goals? It is an initiative led by the governments of Costa Rica and France, and co-led by the United Kingdom on ocean issues, for countries to protect almost a third of their territories before 2030.

The " Forever Blue Fund " will initially be endowed with $ 3.5 million and will be managed by the Costa Rica Forever Association , a non-profit organization with more than ten years of experience in environmental issues.

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ABC News

January 11, 2021
PARIS -- Protecting the world's biodiversity was on the agenda Monday for world leaders at the One Planet Summit, which was being held by videoconference due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The one-day summit will focus on four major topics: protecting terrestrial and marine ecosystems; promoting agroecology, a more sustainable way to grow food; increasing funding to protect biodiversity; and identifying links between deforestation and the health of humans and animals.

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UN Climate Change News

January 11, 2021
In a virtual address today at the ‘One Planet Summit’ for biodiversity hosted by the French government in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank, UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared 2021 as “the year to reconcile humanity with nature.”

He highlighted both the need to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to provide adequate finance to adapt to the impacts of climate change, which include more frequent and more severe incidents of drought, flooding and fires.

While we have been abusing our planet as if we had a spare one, he said, ‘nature is striking back’, with record-high temperatures and collapsing biodiversity. Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, however, provides an opportunity to change course: “With smart policies and the right investments, we can chart a path that brings health to all, revives economies, builds resilience and rescues biodiversity,” he said, citing nature-based solutions such as Africa’s Great Green Wall as being especially promising.

At the One Planet Summit, a new 'High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People' was launched. The 50-State coalition committed to protecting 30% of land and seas worldwide by 2030 and calls on all States to join before the UN Biodiversity Summit COP15. And the Sahel region's Great Green Wall Initiative got a major boost, receiving at least 14 billion US dollars in new funding.

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The Guardian

January 11, 2021
A coalition of more than 50 countries has committed to protect almost a third of the planet by 2030 to halt the destruction of the natural world and slow extinctions of wildlife.

The High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, which includes the UK and countries from six continents, made the pledge to protect at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans before the One Planet summit in Paris on Monday, hosted by the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

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Eurasian Review

January 11, 2021
Biodiversity loss is one of the most pressing challenges humanity faces today. All the recently published reports on biodiversity – the Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems, the Living Planet Report, the Global Forest Resources Assessment Report and the Global Biodiversity Outlook – toll alarm bells pointing out the failure of global commitments in terms of biodiversity conservation.

According to the Living Planet Index (LPI) 2020, decline was captured for the 68% of the monitored population (i.e. 20,811 populations of 4,392 species) for the period of 1970-2016. 

The LPI “is a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats adopted by the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) to track the progress”.

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The Hill - OpEd

January 8, 2021
For four years, science has been under attack by an administration that has dismantled over 125 environmental policies, spanning protections for federal lands and endangered species to regulations that ensure clean air and water.

The Trump presidency has cost the planet valuable time in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Additionally, the harm to scientific integrity, public trust and the United States’ international reputation will linger well beyond Trump’s tenure.

The Biden White House will represent a new day — and new hope — in the fight for environmental protection and climate action. Under the Biden-Harris administration, America has the opportunity to rebuild our stature in the world and assert our leadership in combating the climate crisis. The Biden transition website contains numerous policies that have reinvigorated scientists and those who care about the environment, including plans to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, reach net-zero emissions by 2050, invest in environmental justice and conserve 30 percent of the nation’s land and water by 2030.

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