UN conference success gives hope to our natural world

With the cold weather, Christmas credit card bills and worries about the year ahead, January can be a depressing month.

“That is why I want to talk about four green signs of hope for 2023 over the next four weeks,” said Midlands energy expert Ron Fox.

“Firstly, today I want to look at the UN landmark deal signed recently by nearly 200 countries to protect a third of the planet by 2030.

“I think this agreement at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal, Canada, last month is an historic turning point in our battle against climate change,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd.

At the international conference from December 7 to December 19, which was chaired by China, representatives from 196 countries agreed on December 19 to:

• Protect the Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystems, covering at least 30 per cent of the world’s lands, coastal areas and oceans. Biodiversity is a measure of how many different species live in an ecosystem with areas like tropical rainforests which have millions of different species and are very biodiverse.
• Introduce targets to look after rainforests and wetlands, and the rights of indigenous peoples.
• Reducing the extinction risk of more than one million plant and animal species.
• Halve global food waste by 2030.
• Ensure that the benefits of resources from nature, such as medicines that come from plants, are split equally and fairly.

The summit in Montreal had been regarded as a last chance to put nature on a path to recovery.

Scientists had warned that with forests and grasslands being lost at unprecedented rates and oceans under pressure from pollution, humans were pushing the earth beyond safe limits. They said there was also the risk of diseases, like SARs CoV-2, Ebola and HIV, spilling over from wild animals into human populations.

“I agree with the organisers who said that nature is our ship and we must ensure it stays afloat, ” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele.

“I believe the summit in Montreal finally shows we are finally starting to forge a peace pact with nature. It will be looked on as important for what it did to help our natural world as the Paris climate deal which saw nations agreeing in 2015 to keep world temperature rise below 2C.”

One big sticking point was over how to fund conservation efforts in the parts of the globe that harbour some of the world’s most outstanding biodiversity.

But Ron added: “As with all the UN agreement it’s now up to governments, companies and communities to figure out how they’ll help make these commitments a reality.”

For more advice on green energy and the environment, contact Ron on 0845 474 6641.

Caption: Wave power – A landmark UN deal signed by 196 countries to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s lands, coastal areas and oceans is great news, said Midlands green energy expert.