Summary
We are going to close the live blog now. Statements from world leaders have ended, according to our schedule. Thank you for following along. Here is the summary of today’s proceedings in New York at the first-of-its-kind UN summit on biodiversity.
- Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro attacked “international greed” over the Amazon rainforest in a combative address to the assembly, insisting that countries have the right to use their natural resources. “That’s precisely what we intend to do with the huge wealth of resources in the Brazilian territory,” he said.
- Contrary to what some had expected before the talks, Chinese president Xi Jinping did not make a second major announcement on the environment at the summit’s opening. Last week, he surprised observers with a pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 and to ensure China’s greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2030.
- More than 70 world leaders and heads of state have now signed the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, backed by Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau, Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson. Signatories encouraged others to agree to the 10-point pledge to clamp down on pollution, embrace sustainable economic systems and eliminate the dumping of plastic waste in oceans by the middle of the century as part of “meaningful action”.
- In a thinly veiled message to China, Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno called on countries to self-regulate their fishing activities in the waters around the Galapagos islands after they were targeted by a vast armada of fishing ships in recent weeks.
- Despite statements from world leaders about the importance of protecting biodiversity, many campaigners were not convinced. Greta Thunberg dismissed “the laughable, cynical empty promises and “pledges” still taking place”. Li Shuo, a Greenpeace climate and energy officer, said statements from world leaders lacked substance.
Greta Thunberg
(@GretaThunberg)“Every few years, governments gather to make solemn promises about the action they will take to defend the living world, then break them before the ink is dry.”
Must read to understand the laughable, cynical empty promises and “pledges” still taking place.https://t.co/fY40fNmKCZ
- Indigenous leaders have warned that plans to protect 30% of the planet by the end of the decade could threaten their people. Youth activist Archana Soreng said it could be the “biggest land grab in history”, while Tuntiak Katan, a prominent Amazon leader, said only through “traditional knowledge can we guarantee the conservation of biodiversity and the reduction in deforestation needed to address climate change”.
Good evening and good night from Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston.
![Coral reef scenery with a Green sea turtle and fusiliersGreen turtle [Chelonia mydas] with a school of Deep-bodied fusiliers (Caesio cuning) in background.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/512745872185facb94c7265e96736af2a2be6e5a/0_105_4288_2573/master/4288.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=77780b296c6fb44ffa321bb8b70fb36e)
“We are the parasites,” Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said when describing humanity’s relationship with the planet. “We can go back to a relationship of symbiosis,” he added, saying the delay of the Kunming meeting is an opportunity to scale up ambitions.
Sanchez is focusing on three areas:
- Ensuring 30% of land and sea is protected by 2030
- Restoring 15% of degraded land
- Defending the ‘one health principle’ that recognises the close link between people, plants, animals and their environment
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The Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin tells the summit that the biodiversity crisis is “one of the defining issues of our generation”. A biodiverse planet is essential for humanity, he continues. The global response to restoring nature has to go hand and hand with climate crisis policies, according to the Taoiseach. He says his government will explore an expansion of Ireland’s marine protected areas, adding that his country will use its seat on the UN security council to link human conflict with the environment.
Nepalese prime minister KP Sharma Oli says biodiversity is a “lifeline for us”, helping to sustain human health and prosperity. Living in harmony with nature is part of Nepali culture, he continues. The Himalayan nation has doubled its number of tigers, he tells the summit, adding that his country’s mountain ecosystems help sustain life beyond its borders.
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Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, president of the Maldives, pledged to designate one island, one reef and one mango grove in each atoll as a protected area. The country is also phasing out single-use plastic by 2023. In reference to the coronavirus pandemic he said humanity is “living with the consequences of our constant disrespect to nature”. He added: “If we continue to disrespect the boundaries of the natural world we will continue to face similar or worse catastrophes.”
The Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel said his country was focusing on three areas of action:
- Strengthening the link between science and policy
- Improving multilateral action to better look after rivers and birds and tackle viruses
- Promoting financial systems that encourage investment in the green economy
He said: “I remain convinced that the strength of men and women has always been their ingenuity … let’s draw on this inexhaustible resource.”
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‘Self-regulate fishing around the Galapagos islands’ – Ecuadorian president
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Indigenous people say their right to land is being violated:
Levi Sucre, leader of the AMPB (Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques – Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests) said the economic impacts of the coronavirus means reactive policies have promoted further extraction of natural resources and destruction of forests, leading to the violation of indigenous rights. He said:
We, as indigenous peoples and local communities around the world, have been concerned about the taking of forests, incorrectly called development…. the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities protecting forests is crucial to protect this planet from climate change. We call on the international community to cooperate and turn your eyes to the indigenous peoples. This is not just a matter of our life, it is a matter of your life too, and that of the Planet.
Militza Flaco, youth leader of the AMPB said governments are excluding community leaders from public policy and decision-making. She said:
We, the indigenous peoples, in our silent and sustained struggle for centuries and millennia, continue to live in harmony with nature. We are the example of a living ecological culture. Indigenous peoples fight to protect forests every day. We protect water sources as a resource to survive. We were, are and will be, the guardians of the forest.
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‘We must recognise we are not the most important species’ – Costa Rican president
Costa Rican president Carlos Quesada is the antidote to Jair Bolsonaro. He tells the summit that humanity must focus on three areas to improve our relationship with nature.
First, we must take responsibility and be self-critical by thinking about how our behaviour affects ecosystems. He advocates for economic development models that are based on human wellbeing, not just growth. Second, humility. Quesada says humans must recognise that we are not the most important beings on Earth and be humble enough to learn from nature. Finally, the Costa Rican president says we must focus on equality by protecting ecosystems and decarbonising economies for the good of everyone.
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The leaders dialogue on addressing biodiversity loss and mainstreaming biodiversity for sustainable development is underway. Statements from Angela Merkel and Imran Khan got us started.
The German chancellor said extinctions are accelerating at a pace never before seen in the history of humanity. She said the world must turn the tide on biodiversity loss by expanding the protection of areas, restoring ecosystems and directing financial resources to protecting plants and animals.
Imran Khan, the prime minister of Pakistan, detailed his country’s 12 climatic zones from the peak of K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to the tropics on the Pakistani coast. He said his government is dedicated to their protection.
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Biodiversity in the UK
Prime minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to protect 30% of land in the UK by 2030 has been cautiously welcomed by conservationists. But they warn that targets need to be legally binding to avoid the creation of “paper parks” that fail to safeguard nature in practice.
Johnson announced at a virtual UN event on Monday that an additional 400,000 hectares of land in England would be protected for nature, with the promise of “ambitious goals and binding targets”.
Johnson joined 64 leaders from around the world to make pledges to tackle catastrophic nature lost ahead of today’s summit. The announcement was very welcome but the government overestimates how much land is effectively protected, said Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts. Many of the country’s designated wildlife areas are in poor condition and do not support the wildlife they are meant to provide refuge for.
Bennett said:
Our National Parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) are landscape not wildlife designations, and many of these places are severely depleted of wildlife because of overgrazing, poor management or intensive agricultural practices. Our Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are supposed to be protected for nature but even around half of these are in a poor state and suffering wildlife declines.
In England, 26% of land is protected, but an estimated 5% is being well managed for nature. This existing land needs to be much better protected for the prime minster to deliver on this pledge. “Instead of creating more pointless ‘paper parks,’ the prime minister needs to lay out concrete plans and binding legal targets to halt and begin to reverse the decline of nature on land and at sea by 2030,” said John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace.
The announcement comes after analysis by RSPB found the UK failed to reach 17 out of 20 UN biodiversity targets, because pledges were not matched by action on the ground, resulting in a “lost decade for nature”.
We risk another decade of failure unless biodiversity pledges are put into domestic law like Paris climate agreements, said Martin Harper, director of global conservation at the RSPB. “If then properly backed by a reformed systems of farm payments and new dedicated resources for habitat restoration, which would allow places like our national parks to become an engine for nature’s recovery, we’ll then have a fighting chance to revive our world,” he said.
A 2019 State of Nature report found one in ten UK species is threatened with extinction, with 41% of species in decline. Caroline Lucas, MP for the Green Party, said it was not enough to “talk about protecting nature on the one hand then undermine that action on the other”.
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