Kunming Declaration

Kunming Declaration

News: The Kunming Declaration was adopted by over 100 countries at the first part of the ongoing virtual 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Details:
• The adoption of the declaration will create momentum for a new global biodiversity pact.
• In a previous agreement, Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, signed in Aichi, Japan, in 2010, governments agreed on 20 targets to try to slow biodiversity loss and protect habitats by 2020.
• It calls for urgent and integrated action to reflect biodiversity considerations in all sectors of the global economy but crucial issues - like funding conservation in poorer countries and committing to biodiversityfriendly supply chains have been left to discuss later.It is not a binding international agreement.
• It calls upon the parties to mainstream biodiversity protection in decision-making and recognise the importance of conservation in protecting human health.
• The theme of the declaration is Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth.
• By adopting this, the nations have committed themselves to support the development, adoption and implementation of an effective post-2020 implementation plan, a capacity building action plan for the Cartagena Protocol on biosafety.The Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.
• As per the declaration the signatory nations will ensure that the post-pandemic recovery policies, programmes and plans contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, promoting sustainable and inclusive development.
• The declaration made a reference to the '30 by 30' target which is a key proposal being debated at the COP15, that would afford 30% of the Earth’s land and oceans protected status by 2030.
• Apart from this, the goal to halve the use of chemicals in agriculture and stop creating plastic waste is also being debated.
• China has also pledged to inject USD 233 million into a new fund to protect biodiversity in developing countries. The fund is being referred to by China as Kunming Biodiversity Fund.
• It is the right step in this direction. However, some countries have reservations regarding this fund.
• Some countries have called this fund as “a drop in the bucket” given that China is the world’s biggest polluter.
• Further, some rich country donors say a new fund for conservation is unnecessary because the United Nations’ Global Environment Facility already helps developing nations finance green projects.

About Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• The CBD (wef 1993) known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.The convention has three main goals:
• the conservation of biodiversity
• the sustainable use of its components
• the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources
• Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.
• Cartagena Protocolis an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.
• Nagoya Protocoldeals with Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS).