AFP

Delegates from almost 200 nations have made little progress towards hammering out a blueprint for a global pact to protect nature from human activity, after almost a week of difficult talks in Nairobi.

The meetings wrapping up Sunday were aimed at ironing out differences among the UN Convention of Biological Diversity’s 196 members, with barely six months before a crucial COP15 summit in December.

The ambitious goal is to draw up a draft text outlining a global framework to “live in harmony with nature” by 2050, with key targets to be met by 2030.

Many hope the landmark deal, when finalised, will be as ambitious in its goals to protect life on Earth as the Paris agreement was for climate change.

But progress at the talks in the Kenyan capital was slow.

“Most of the time was spent on technical bickering, with major decisions left unresolved and postponed for the COP,” said Brian O’Donnell, director of the Campaign for Nature.

“It is now critically important that environment ministers and heads of state engage, take ownership and rescue this process,” he told AFP.

Delegates in Nairobi spent hours discussing formulations or seeking to introduce new elements, instead of reconciling differing viewpoints and refining rather than overhauling the text.

– ‘Security issue for humanity’ –

One delegate on Saturday night spoke of feeling “desperate”. Another described the Nairobi round as “a step” and voiced hope for further informal meetings before December.

“We need to continue with the dialogue with the intention to simplify and reduce the brackets (on the disputed issues) and alternatives,” said Vinod Mathur, head of India’s National Biodiversity Authority.

For that to happen, warned Francis Ogwal of Uganda, one of the two co-chairs of the Kenya negotiations, “there has to be a very big shift of mind in the way we are negotiating”.

Proposals include a global commitment to set aside at least 30 percent of both land and oceans as protected zones by the end of the decade, as well as efforts to cut plastic and agricultural pollution.  

But time is running out, with one million species threatened with extinction and tropical forests disappearing, while intensive agriculture is depleting the soil and pollution is affecting even the most remote areas of the planet.

“It’s not any longer an ecological issue only… It is increasingly an issue that affects our economy, our society, our health, our wellbeing,” Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, told a press conference.

“It is a security issue for humanity.”

– ‘Crucial’ to fix food system –

Lambertini accused some countries of using a “delaying tactic”, pointing the finger at Brazil in particular. Behind the scenes, Argentina and South Africa were also getting the blame.

One of the main stumbling blocks concerns agriculture, particularly targets for a reduction in pesticides and fertilisers.

The European Union wants to see the pesticide issue specifically mentioned in the text, but “there is little support” for that position, according to one delegate.

Delegates from the Global South have highlighted the need to produce more, with much of the planet undergoing a major food security crisis, and reject any reference to agroecology, the use of ecological principles in farming.  

“Agriculture is currently responsible for 70 percent of biodiversity loss,” said Guido Broekhoven of WWF International, adding that it was “absolutely crucial” to fix a system where 30 percent of food goes to waste.

Countries are also divided on the issue of the funding needed to implement the biodiversity goals.

Brazil, backed by 22 countries including Argentina, South Africa, Cameroon, Egypt and Indonesia, renewed calls for rich countries to provide at least $100 billion a year until 2030 to help developing countries preserve their rich biodiversity. 

The African bloc is also asking for a fund dedicated to biodiversity, according to one country delegate.

Although leaders of 93 countries committed in September 2020 to ending the biodiversity crisis, the issue is struggling to gain as much traction on the international political agenda as climate change.

“There is also a need to see where our political leaders want us to be,” said Canada’s Basile van Havre, co-chair of the Kenyan talks.

“We’re looking to see who’s going to  step up to pick up that ball.”

Two popular coves in the “Calanques” area  near Marseille, among southern France’s main attractions, saw visitor numbers capped on Sunday for the first time to protect their fragile ecosystem.

The coast between Marseille and Cassis features France’s best-known Calanques, age-old rock formations featuring steep cliffs, offering spectacular views, rare marine fauna and protected swimming.

Hugely popular with locals and visitors alike, they are often accessible only by boat or hiking trails.

Because the limestone formations have little or no topsoil, plants have had to take root in cracks between the rocks, making their hold tenuous and vulnerable to disturbances.

“The Sugiton and Pierres Tombees calanques have fallen victim to very serious soil erosion because of overcrowding,” said the Calanques National Park which manages the landscape of narrow vertical cliffs, inlets and beaches.

“This phenomenon is threatening the landscapes that we love so much, and bio-diversity,” it said.

Access to Sugiton and Pierres Tombees was limited to 400 people each on Sunday, compared to the usual summer daily visitor numbers of 2,500.

The new measure is to allow “the natural regeneration” of the cove, Nicolas Chardin, the national park’s interim director, told AFP at the Sugiton beach on Sunday.

Online bookings are free of charge, but anyone found at the beaches without a pass on capped days can be fined 68 euros ($72).

“Everything went well this morning, let’s hope it stays that way the entire season,” Mathieu Benquet, who heads the national park’s police team, told AFP.

However, many people — including several foreigners — had been turned away at the several checkpoints along the access path to the cove because they didn’t have the required QR code.

Some visitors, hoping for a cooling swim on a hot day, were unhappy about the new rule.

“We’ve been coming here for 10 years, it feels like our home cove,” said Younes Azabib, a 26-year old Marseille resident.

“We thought of everything, the picnic and the pizzas. But we didn’t think to book,” said his friend, Bilal.

But others appreciated the new-found calmness at the beach.

“This is great,” said Isabelle, a 50-year old Marseille resident who usually stays away during the summer because of crowds. “It’s finally possible to have a swim.”

Nicolas Ponsot, a 41-year-old father of three, also welcomed the visitor cap, saying “it helps to preserve this whole eco-system”.

The new rule is to be applied again next Sunday and then daily between July 10 and August 21, the national park said.

While workers laboured on a large construction site in the Gaza Strip, a security guard noticed a strange piece of stone sticking out of the earth.

“I thought it was a tunnel,” said Ahmad, the young guard, referring to secret passages dug by the Islamist group Hamas to help it battle Israel.

In the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas and repeatedly ravaged by war, people are more familiar with burying the dead than digging up their heritage.

But what Ahmad found in January was part of a Roman necropolis dating from about 2,000 years ago — representative of the impoverished Palestinian territory’s rich, if under-developed, archaeological treasures.

After the last war between Israel and Hamas in May 2021 left a trail of damage in Gaza, Egypt began a reconstruction initiative worth $500 million.

As part of that project in Jabaliya, in the north of the coastal enclave, bulldozers were digging up the sandy soil in order to build new concrete buildings when Ahmad made his discovery.

“I notified the Egyptian foremen, who immediately contacted local authorities and asked the workers to stop,” said Ahmad, a Palestinian who preferred not to give his full name.

With rumours on social media of a big discovery, Gaza’s antiquities service called in the French non-governmental group Premiere Urgence Internationale and the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem to evaluate the site’s importance and mark off the area.

“The first excavations permitted the identification of about 40 tombs dating from the ancient Roman period between the first and second centuries AD,” said French archaeologist Rene Elter, who led the team dispatched to Jabaliya.

“The necropolis is larger than these 40 tombs and should have between 80 and 100,” he said.

One of the burial sites found so far is decorated with multi-coloured paintings representing crowns and garlands of bay leaves, as well as jars for funereal drinks, the archaeologist added.

– ‘Treasures’ of Gaza –

Archaeology is a highly political subject in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and discoveries are used to justify the territorial claims of each people.

While the Jewish state has a number of archaeologists reporting on an impressive number of ancient treasures, the sector is largely neglected in Gaza.

Authorities periodically announce discoveries in the territory, but tourism at archaeological sites is limited.

Israel and Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, tightly restrict the flow of people in and out of the enclave administered by Hamas since 2007.

“However, there is no difference between what you can find in Gaza and on the other side of the barrier” in Israel, Elter said. “It’s the same great history.”

“In Gaza, a lot of sites have disappeared because of conflict and construction, but the territory is an immense archaeological site which needs many teams of experts,” he added.

Stakes and fences have been erected around the Roman necropolis, which is watched over constantly by guards as new buildings go up nearby.

“We are trying to fight antiquities trafficking,” said Jamal Abu Rida, director of the local archaeological service tasked with protecting the necropolis and which hopes to find investors for further excavation.

Since Hamas took control 15 years ago, Gaza has endured four wars and numerous escalations of tension.

“The image of Gaza is often associated with violence, but its history is bursting with archaeological treasures that need to be protected for future generations,” said Jihad Abu Hassan, director of the local Premiere Urgence mission.

Demographics add to the pressure.

Gaza is a tiny, overcrowded strip of land whose population in 15 years has ballooned from 1.4 million to 2.3 million. As a result, building construction has accelerated.

“Some people avoid telling authorities if there is an archaeological discovery on a construction site out of fear of not being compensated” for the resulting work stoppage, Abu Hassan said.

“We lose archaeological sites every day,” which shows the need for a strategy to defend the enclave’s heritage, including training local archaeologists, he said.

Over the last few years, his organisation has helped to educate 84 archaeological technicians. Doing so also offers employment prospects, in an impoverished territory where youth joblessness exceeds 60 percent.

– Still hunting stones –

One rare success is the preservation of the Byzantine monastery of Saint Hilarion.

It opened several years ago to the public and includes an atrium, baths and multiple churches, standing as testament to an era when Gaza was a crossroads for Mediterranean pilgrims.

“We receive around 14,000 visitors a year, including school students,” said Fadel al-Otol, 41, a Palestinian archaeologist whose early passion for ancient ruins was formalised with training in France.

As a child during the first Palestinian intifida, or uprising, Otol said he hunted stones to hurl at Israeli soldiers.

“Today I look for stones to prove to the military that we have a great history,” he said.

Wandering around the Saint Hilarion site, Otol pondered his dream: “That we excavate all the archaeological sites of Gaza and that they be accessible to the public to show our history and culture to the entire world.”

If nothing is done, he said, “the sites would disappear forever.”