In December 2022, 195 nations met in Montréal Canada for COP15 – the UN’s biodiversity summit. COP15 marked the 15th assembly of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The conference is held once every decade and it gives the opportunity to secure a global action plan to halt ecological destruction, biodiversity loss and damage to global ecosystems – including oceans and forests.
The outcome of the two week conference has been a landmark package of measures which have been deemed to be critical to addressing the losses of global biodiversity. The agreed upon framework, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), includes four goals and 23 targets to achieve by 2030. These include that by 2030, 30% of the Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, and inland waters are protects; A reduction by $500 billion annually in harmful government subsidies; and to cut global food waste in half.
With regards to COP15 from an Irish perspective, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage’s National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has welcomed the adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework, emphasising that it represents a “milestone moment in governments’ response to the global biodiversity crisis”.
The full agreement reached at COP15 including information on the four goals and 23 targets for 2030 can be found here.
To learn more about Ireland’s current biodiversity further information can be found at: