The most important biodiversity talks in a decade hit a significant roadblock
(Bloomberg) — The most important biodiversity talks in a decade hit a significant roadblock on Wednesday, as delegates from developing countries attending the COP15 summit in Montreal walked away from talks focused on how to fund protection of the world’s ecosystems.
A working group on resource mobilization had been in talks since 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night. By early the next day proceedings had entered a stalemate between developed and developing nations, according to Sikeade Egbuwalo, a negotiator for Nigeria who was at the meeting.
“We were negotiating, following the directive of the co-chairs, and at some point we were not allowed to negotiate on numerical values,” Egbuwalo said in an interview. Developed countries wanted to leave specific decisions about funding to higher-level discussions with environment ministers set to begin soon, she said, and developing nations were not prepared to move on without them.
“We, the developing countries, walked out of the room at about 4:00 a.m.,” Egbuwalo said.
An official from the UN organizers of the summit confirmed that the protest happened but put the starting time a few hours earlier.
COP15: What to Expect From the UN Biodiversity Conference
The impasse comes as high-level negotiations with environment ministers are set to begin on the most important aspects of the COP15 agreement — including numerical targets. A key part of those talks is hammering out how pro-biodiversity measures — which could include protecting 30% of the world’s land and sea — will be funded. The goal is to create a policy roadmap to shape countries’ approach to biodiversity for the next decade.
A statement from the Brazil behalf of a group of “like-minded countries” noted that territories home to more biological diversity “will bear a higher burden” in implementing any global framework and called for a “commensurately robust package on resource mobilization.”
The group references an earlier proposal for developing countries to commit to financial grants of at least $100 billion annually, or 1% of global GDP, until 2030, after which the amount would be revised.
(Updates throughout)
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