As stated by Jennifer Morris, The Nature Conservancy, CEO, in a statement signed by several nature conservation organizations CEOs “Governments have signed a once-in-a-decade agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems and to protect people and species. We were looking for a global agreement that would transform our relationship with nature. Agreeing to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 puts the issue squarely on the table with a clear deadline for all of society.”
Outside of the formal negotiations, COP15 featured the Rio Conventions Pavilion, Business Forum, Gender Caucus, Youth Forum, as well as interactive dialogues and high-level roundtables that brought together stakeholders from public and private sectors, civil society and academia to find solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems we face today.
Michael Ofosuhene-Wise, Climate and Nature Manager at Business for Nature intervening at the Nature Positive Pavilion’s event / Photo: Daniel Murillo
As part of this, the conference centre hosted a central-staged Nature Positive Pavilion enabling Non-State Actors (NSA) Mobilization for a Nature and People Positive Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Numerous events were organized daily at the Pavilion illustrating the richness and the liveliness of a whole-of-society approach.
Facilitated by WWF, NSAs have indeed become progressively more vocal on the need for more ambition on nature (widening the nature positive movement), and have strengthened their commitments and advocacy strategies for nature action ahead of and at CBD’s CoP15 in Montreal (deepening the movement on nature positive).
Speakers of the Nature Positive Pavilion’s event / Photo: Daniel Murillo
Here are some examples of faith, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as well as development and humanitarian groups’ events and initiatives supported by our project and conducted ahead of and at Montreal to both deepen and widen the nature positive movement and advocate for an ambitious GBF negotiated outcomes:
- Mobilizing for a Climate Neutral and Nature Positive World ahead of COP15, Nature Zone, COP27 on 16 November. At a critical juncture between the climate COP in Egypt and the biodiversity COP in Canada, non-state actors called for action to secure an ambitious GBF ahead of CBD COP 15 in Montreal for a nature positive world by 2030, and in support of climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals. The event provided a platform for an unprecedented collection of voices from across society including state and non-state actors (NGOs, cities, youth, faith, IPLC, scientists) to come together in a collective call for a strengthened Global Biodiversity Framework, and to step up action to secure an equitable, nature-positive, and net zero emissions world.
- Multi-faith Voices for an Ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework, Nature Positive Pavilion, COP15 on 8 December. This session provided a platform for the launch of the multi-faith reccommendations for the GBF at COP15. It featured representatives from different religious traditions speaking on the faith priorities, and how their religious and spiritual traditions compels them to protect and care for nature. The session also served as a call to action for faith groups, and showcased the leadership and importance of religious organizations in advocating for biodiversity. Faith communities also set up a dedicated booth at COP15 premises as a collaborative effort among faith groups, and met with the CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Mrema to deliver their community priorities for GBF.
For more information, please see faith groups’ dedicated twitter site https://twitter.com/FaithsatCOP15 and webpage https://www.biodiversity.faith/
- Development, Humanitarian and Indigenous Peoples networks issued a statement at COP15 calling for bridging climate and nature agendas at the critical juncture between COP27 and COP15, and recognizing nature as a force for adaptation and mitigation in the climate crisis. They stressed that securing a nature-positive and people-positive world through an ambitious Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 is crucial to achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Please read the statement here
“The Nature Positive Pavilion at COP15 was a key element in expanding the circle of actors involved in implementation of the GBF to new stakeholder groups, while at the same time mobilizing even more stakeholders from each group. This brought in new perspectives from different countries and contexts, creating more synergies and boosting non-state actors’ contributions to the implementation of the framework.” Hugo Rivera Mendoza, Team Leader of the Post 2020 Biodiversity-EU Support.
“The agreement represents a major milestone for the conservation of our natural world, and biodiversity has never been so high on the political and business agenda, but it can be undermined by slow implementation and failure to mobilize the promised resources. Governments have chosen the right side of history in Montreal, but history will judge all of us if we don’t deliver on the promise made today.” Marco Lambertini, DG WWF International.
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