COP 15 is happening now in Montreal. Originally it was supposed to take place in Kunming, China. Because of the COVID 19 pandemic it was postponed several times. Then it became an online conference last year and a meeting in Montreal this year. See in Wikipedia.
They noted in the online conference “the call of many countries to protect and conserve 30% of land and sea areas through well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures by 2030” This goal is called ’30 x 30′. It is a goal like “keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees” in climate change COPs.
The second part of COP 15 is happening in Montreal. Prime Minister Trudeau, in an opening speech, mentioned ’30 X 30′ again. (His speech sounds best in French). He said it would be possible to halt and reverse biodiversity lose by 2030. (an indigenous protest was edited out of the video)
Deutsch Welle, online today, discussed “Why is it so important to protect nature and biodiversity?” They mentioned the importance of insects in pollinating our plants, the intensive agriculture with pesticides and fertilizer, the 6th extinction.
From the debate about whether we are in the 6th extinction or not, I have the feeling that we are on the extinction’s doorstep.
They concluded with a threat to humanity: “The more we reduce the number of species, the more susceptible a system becomes to disruption,” said Andrea Perino of the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig, in eastern Germany.
The Un Secretary General gave a speech in which he said we are ‘treating nature like a toilet.’ (It is amusing that his pronunciation of fossil fuels sounds like ‘fossil fools’)
Talking about the 30 x 30 pledge, the Guardian reminds of a book by Edward O Wilson, Half Earth. The great idea of the book is to leave half of the earth for wildlife. He believes it would allow us to save 80 percent the earth’s species. I’m too lazy to read the book, but I will listen to the audio book that I linked.
Along with the 30 x 30 target, The Guardian also gave 6 other targets: pesticides (as mentioned above), preventing extinctions, plastics (a treaty has already been drawn up), invasive species, and more nature restoration.