Cop15

COP15

This December, the race to protect the planet's biodiversity will be front and center when representatives from countries around the world gather in Montreal, Canada, for the United Nation's Biodiversity Conference, referred to as COP15. You may have heard of COP27, the UN Climate Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which wrapped up in November. Despite sharing the name COP (Conference of Parties), the two events are designed to focus on different areas of policy and specific points of negotiation. COP15 stands for the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties for biodiversity. It runs for two weeks, starting December 7 in Montreal, Canada. COP15—along with previous meetings—is centered around the Convention on Biological Diversity, a 1992 international agreement on how nations should use and protect the world's natural resources. The agreement has been ratified or accepted by 196 countries. The United States is not part of that list, though US government representatives will participate in Montreal.

The text above comes from The Nature Conservancy.  As this major international conference comes to a close, it is a significant summit you might never know is happening from reading our newspapers. The Guardian carried an op-ed by an exasperated anonymous negotiator at the talks. “Even by the glacial standards of UN biodiversity negotiations, Cop15 has been slow. We have been in Montreal for more than a week and I am flabbergasted at the lack of progress,” 

Why Is Biodiversity So Important?

CURRENT NEWS

7 reasons our planet might not be doomed after all

By Benji Jones 12/20/22
On a busy street downtown is a life-size ice sculpture of a polar bear. It’s melting, revealing a fearsome-looking bronze skeleton underneath. Designed by artist Mark Coreth, the display is not a decoration but a…
Read more

COP15: Key outcomes agreed at UN biodiversity conference

By Aruna Chandrasekhar et al. 12/20/22
Almost 200 countries have agreed to a new set of goals and targets to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by the end of the decade. The landmark deal was reached after two weeks of often…
Read more

Cop15 global nature deal passes despite DR Congo’s objection

By Reuters and Joe Loe 12/19/22
The Chinese presidency gavelled through a biodiversity pact in Montreal, overriding the funding concerns of some African delegates The post Cop15 global nature deal passes despite DR Congo’s objection appeared first on Climate Home News.…
Read more

Cop15 negotiators close to agreeing nature deal as talks draw to end

By Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston 12/18/22
A potentially transformational agreement for nature is close to being reached at Cop15 in Montreal, which could bring better protection for Earth’s vital ecosystems such as the Amazon and Congo basin rainforests, big reforms to…
Read more

United Nations’ biodiversity conference poised to leave many issues unresolved

By Michael Casey 12/18/22
Negotiators at a United Nations biodiversity conference Saturday have still not resolved most of the key issues around protecting the world's nature by 2030 and providing tens of billions of dollars to developing countries to…
Read more

Cop15 brokers talk up hopes for nature deal as conference enters final stretch

By Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston 12/18/22
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on countries to “go big” in negotiations at Cop15, as the talks to secure the next decade of targets to stop the destruction of nature reach the final…
Read more

COP15: What is the 30 by 30 biodiversity target and is it enough?

By Madeleine Cuff 12/16/22
Environment ministers from a coalition of countries including Canada, the UK, Costa Rica and France have urged negotiators at the COP15 summit to rally behind the so-called 30 by 30 target – a goal to…
Read more

Can the world agree on how to save its last wild animals?

By Dino Grandoni 12/09/22
Diplomats are meeting in Montreal at a biodiversity conference this month to see whether they can rescue species from extinction....
Read more

Curtailing the collapse of the living world

By Shahid Naeem, Yonglong Lu and Jeremy Jackson 12/07/22
On 7 December of this year, the fate of the entire living world will be determined in Montreal, Canada, at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity…
Read more

‘Fate of the living world’ will be decided at Cop15, say scientists

By Damian Carrington 12/07/22
The “fate of the entire living world” will be determined at the Cop15 UN biodiversity summit, according to leading scientists. They said the gathering of the world’s nations, which began on Wednesday in Montreal, is…
Read more

How Indigenous people are fighting to stop ‘the biggest land grab in history’

By Joseph Lee 12/07/22
Indigenous leaders from around the world are calling for a bigger role in negotiations at the United Nations’ Biodiversity Conference which convenes today in Montreal. Known as COP15, delegates from nearly 200 countries are expected…
Read more

Stop burning trees to make energy, say 650 scientists before Cop15 biodiversity summit

By Phoebe Weston 12/05/22
Letter says bioenergy is wrongly deemed ‘carbon neutral’ and contributes to wildlife lossMore than 650 scientists are urging world leaders to stop burning trees to make energy because it destroys valuable habitats for wildlife.In the…
Read more

KEY RESOURCES

United Nations Biodiversity Conference COP15 / CP-MOP10 / NP-MOP4

01/03/23
Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity is dedicated to promoting sustainable development. Conceived as a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21 into…

COP15: Your Guide to the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference

12/09/22
The race to protect the planet's biodiversity will be front and center when representatives from countries around the world gather in Montreal, Canada, for the United Nation's Biodiversity Conference, referred to as COP15.

MORE NEWS

COP15: Why the world needs a new deal to protect nature

By Michael Taylor   11/28/22  
Hard on the heels of this month's fractious COP27 climate talks in Egypt, exhausted environmentalists are shifting their attention to another upcoming U.N. green summit, known as COP15...
Read more

The Most Important Global Meeting You’ve Probably Never Heard Of Is Now

By Catrin Einhorn   10/14/21  
As 20,000 government leaders, journalists, activists and celebrities from around the world prepare to descend on Glasgow for a crucial climate summit starting late this month, another high-level international environmental meeting got started this week.…
Read more