Delegates Walk Out of Key COP15 Biodiversity Funding Talks
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The most important biodiversity talks in a decade hit a significant roadblock in the early hours, as delegates from developing countries attending the COP15 gathering in Montreal walked away from talks focused on how to fund targets to protect the world’s ecosystems.
The protest happened at about 1 a.m. local time, David Ainsworth, information officer for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Environment Programme, said in a news conference.
“The issue that seemed to have precipitated the walkout was a discussion on the creation of a new fund for biodiversity, and the difference of opinion between developed and developing countries,” he said. The walkout, in a working group focused on resource mobilization, included delegates from all developing countries, including “like-minded, mega-diverse countries,” he said.
A meeting of the heads of delegations will take place at 11 a.m. this morning to attempt to resolve the impasse, Ainsworth said, but declined to comment further.
COP15: What to Expect From the UN Biodiversity Conference
The protest comes as high-level negotiations with environment ministers are set to begin today on the most important aspects of the COP15 agreement. That includes numerical targets in the draft Global Biodiversity Framework that will lay out countries’ approach to biodiversity for the next decade. A key part of those talks is hammering out how measures — which could include protecting 30% of the world’s land and sea — will be funded.
The protest happened at about 1 a.m. local time, David Ainsworth, information officer for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Environment Programme, said in a news conference.
“The issue that seemed to have precipitated the walkout was a discussion on the creation of a new fund for biodiversity, and the difference of opinion between developed and developing countries,” he said. The walkout, in a working group focused on resource mobilization, included delegates from all developing countries, including “like-minded, mega-diverse countries,” he said.
A meeting of the heads of delegations will take place at 11 a.m. this morning to attempt to resolve the impasse, Ainsworth said, but declined to comment further.
COP15: What to Expect From the UN Biodiversity Conference
The protest comes as high-level negotiations with environment ministers are set to begin today on the most important aspects of the COP15 agreement. That includes numerical targets in the draft Global Biodiversity Framework that will lay out countries’ approach to biodiversity for the next decade. A key part of those talks is hammering out how measures — which could include protecting 30% of the world’s land and sea — will be funded.