To save nature, world leaders aim to turn words into action at biodiversity summit

Two years ago, nearly every country on Earth signed on to a landmark agreement to protect the fast-eroding natural world.

It was celebrated as the “Paris moment” for the world’s threatened and endangered plants, animals and ecosystems — a global pledge aimed at slowing biodiversity loss in the same way the Paris Climate Agreement aimed (and so far has failed) to drastically cut climate-warming pollution.

Now, world leaders are gathering at the 16th United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Colombia to see how close they are to reaching these targets.

By all accounts, they still have a long way to go.

Take, for example, one of the most ambitious goals agreed to at the last biodiversity summit: a pledge to protect 30% of the planet’s land and water by 2030 — a concept known as 30×30.

A report published last week by a collection of conservation groups and philanthropies found that only 8.3% of the world’s oceans are designated as marine protected areas and much of that area is protected only in name, meaning they are so loosely regulated that harmful activities like fishing and mining persist.

At current rates, the report found, less than 10% of the world’s oceans will be protected by 2030.

“The gap between pledge and action is vast, and without urgent, meaningful protection, the 30×30 goal will remain unrealized,” said Beth Pike, director of the Marine Protection Atlas at the Marine Conservation Institute. “The time to turn commitments into real, meaningful change is now, because our ocean can’t wait.”

The gap between pledges and actions is expected to loom large at COP16.

Here’s what else to expect:

But first, why should you care?

More than a million species are at risk of extinction, many within decades, because of human actions. Forests are being cut down for agriculture and development, while climate change-fueled wildfires are scorching others.

In 2023, nearly 10 soccer fields’ worth of tropical forests were lost every minute.

The loss of nature isn’t just a problem for plants and animals. More than half of the world’s GDP is dependent on nature, according to the World Economic Forum. Insects and birds pollinate the crops that the more than 8 billion people on Earth eat. Wetlands store and clean water. Plants and fungi maintain healthy soils and provide medicine. Forests and peatlands sequester climate-warming carbon.

Scientists warn that the Amazon rainforest, which houses roughly 10% of the world’s biodiversity and helps stabilize the planet’s climate, could soon reach a tipping point when large swaths of it transition from forest to savanna.

“We are talking about biosphere tipping points,” said Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist at the World Wildlife Fund. “We’re talking about the combination of the destruction of nature with climate change that creates outsized impacts and runaway outcomes that we cannot change and that will have catastrophic outcomes for the planet.”

What are the goals of COP16?

The last Convention on Biological Diversity — COP15 — was the goal setter. Every 10 years, member nations and Indigenous groups negotiate a framework that sets targets for each to achieve over the coming decade.

At COP15, in Montreal, nations agreed to 23 targets for 2030 and four goals for 2050. They included everything from managing human-wildlife conflict to reducing subsidies for industries that are harming the natural world. (If you want to read them all, geek out here.)

During this year’s two-week convention in Colombia, delegates will dig into the details and figure out how to implement those goals.

Member nations are supposed to submit national plans showing how they will protect 30% of their land and water by 2030. More than 85% of countries missed the U.N.’s deadline to submit those pledges ahead of COP16.

Astrid Schomaker, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said she’s optimistic that by the end of the year there will be more progress.

“We understand that the fact that this is a bit slow is not because there’s no action being taken, but it is because countries are taking this process more seriously,” she said. “It’s not just the environment ministries that map the plans, they’re really involving other ministries, the whole of government approach, and that means they take more time.”

Other goals at COP16 include providing more financial support for biodiversity, recognizing the roles of Indigenous peoples and local communities in helping to preserve nature, and integrating efforts to protect nature with other international initiatives to combat climate change and desertification.

Some good trends and some bad

A pair of recent reports show that despite global pledges, biodiversity loss is accelerating in many places.

Nearly every country in the world and hundreds of businesses, nongovernmental groups and Indigenous peoples organizations have signed on to various pledges intended to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. And in some places, like the Brazilian Amazon, there has been progress.

But a report published earlier this month by a coalition of research organizations and NGOs found that deforestation is on the rise globally, driven by increases in other parts of South America, Indonesia, Africa and North America.

“A clear problem is that progress on forest protection is vulnerable to shifting political and economic priorities,” said Erin Matson, a senior consultant at Climate Focus and co-author of the report, in a statement. “When the right conditions are in place, such as strong enforcement and clear regulations, countries see major progress. The next year, if economic or political conditions change, forest loss can come roaring back.”

The other report published earlier this month, by the World Wildlife Fund, found that global wildlife populations have shrunk by an average of 73% over the last 50 years. The number is eye-popping but does not mean that all wildlife has declined by that much.

The Living Planet Index, the tool used in the report, averages how much different monitored populations of species have declined over time and some scientists say it’s skewed by smaller populations of animals that have seen steep drop-offs.

Shaw, who helped compile the report, said the takeaway message is the same: “When you look at vertebrate populations — mammals, fish, reptiles, birds and amphibians — when you see those declines, it’s an early warning indicator of the unraveling of the functioning of nature.”

All the more reason, she said, for the world to take urgent actions.