Credit: DH Illustration
The sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 16) is scheduled to take place at Cali, a city located on the western coast of Colombia, from October 21 to November 1. At COP 15, held in Montreal in December 2022, a landmark agreement was reached by representatives from 188 countries, who resolved to halt and reverse nature’s loss, restore ecosystems, and protect indigenous rights. The resolution, known for its “30X30” target, categorically called for 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems to be protected by 2030, in an effort to limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Despite the ambition of this resolution, more than one and three-quarter years later, no country has yet identified the specific areas to be brought under 30x30 protection. On the contrary, the plundering of nature and biodiversity has continued at an unprecedented pace. As CBD COP 16 approaches, the question is whether it will take stock of the actions taken and demonstrate a sincere commitment to fulfilling this goal.
On the sidelines of the recent United Nations General Assembly in New York, India signed a treaty to conserve marine biodiversity in the high seas. Nearly 100 countries have signed the agreement, and eight have ratified it. The treaty aims to address marine genetic resources, including equitable benefit-sharing, area-based management tools, environment impact assessments, capacity building, and technology transfer. Given that seas serve as crucial carbon sinks, protecting marine biodiversity and aquatic life is of utmost importance. The treaty is seen as a step forward toward achieving the COP 15 goal of protecting 30% of the planet by 2030.
Since COP 15, Canada has witnessed a catastrophic surge in wildfires across the country. In 2023, wildfires burnt more than 15 million hectares of forest—nearly 4% of the country’s total land area—displacing more than 200,000 people. Looking at satellite data of smoke plumes from fire that burnt from May to September 2023, researchers found that 2,371 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent were released in the atmosphere. This has brought a change in the emission ranking of nations in 2023. Canada’s ranking has jumped from 11 in 2022 to 4 in 2023, behind China, the US, and India. The lead author of the study, Brendan Byrne, observed, “There is concern whether potentially more intense fire in the coming decades will suppress the ability of Canadian forests to continue serving as carbon sinks.” Forest fire is a concern in other countries too, and it not only causes a surge in carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, it also suppresses the potential of carbon sequestration—double whammy. CoP 16 at Cali must review and work out a solution.
South of the treeless Arctic region, we have the world’s largest forests, known as boreal forests, covering large portions of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Siberia. These forests have stored a huge quantity of carbon and have protected the planet from further warming. Forests are rich in biodiversity and house numerous species of mammals, fish, plants of coniferous and broadleaved species, insects, and birds. Studies have revealed that warming of Arctic and Antarctic regions is three to four times higher than that of equatorial and tropical regions of earth. Boreal forests are thus experiencing more warming than the global average, which in turn is adversely impacting their growth and regeneration. The northern part of the forests is slowly expanding towards the Arctic region, where ice has melted. Studies in Alaska’s Brooks Range have also found that spruce trees have grown and established north of the tree line. Once inaccessible, the southern part has been kept open for commercial logging. The anthropogenic pressure and wildfire have been causing degradation of forests considerably. The gain in northern boreal forests is far too lower than the loss in south. Will COP 16 be effective in ending commercial exploitation of these forests?
The world’s biggest rain forest, the Amazon, spanning nine south American countries—namely Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana—has shrunk 12.5% between 1985 and 2023. In other words, Amazon forests have shrunk from 704 million hectares in 1985 to 616 million hectares in 2023. A group, RAISG, comprising researchers and NGOs who studied the loss, has revealed that the forests are transformed into mining areas and agriculture fields. A member of the group Sandra Rio Caceres from the Institute of the Common Good, a Peruvian association, said, “With the loss of forests, we emit more carbon into the atmosphere, and this disrupts an entire ecosystem that regulates the climate and the hydrological cycle, clearly affecting temperatures.” Columbia, the host country for forthcoming biodiversity CoP, must bring a consensus among other eight South American countries controlling Amazon forests to end further transformation of forests to pasture lands, soy bean fields, and mining.
Many African countries are reeling under drought—clearly a climate change impact. Environment COPs have repeatedly stressed the need to finance $100 billion annually for adaptation from the consequences of the warming. COP 27 at Sharm el-Sheikh in 2022 resolved to provide a loss and damage fund for affected nations. In the absence of proper aid and crippled supply of food grains due to the Ukraine crisis, Namibia and Zimbabwe have ordered to cull wild elephants for food. Many more countries would take the cue and cull large mammals to fill hungry stomachs. Humans have been hunting and eating wild animals for a greater part of their evolutionary journey, which is being repeated in some parts of the world in the 21st century. Clearly, biodiversity cannot be conserved with a hungry stomach; CBD COP 16 must find a way out. Studies have also shown that elephants are known to feed on the plants in the lower canopy of the forests having lower potential for carbon sequestration. It provides space for high carbon-absorbing trees in the middle and top canopy of the forests and steps up carbon absorption.
(The writer is retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force), Karnataka)