Earlier this week Peers for the Planet hosted an event in partnership with the Canadian Senators for Climate Solutions, on the upcoming COP15 conference – the 15th UN Conference on Biodiversity, taking place in Montreal in December.
Chaired by Baroness Willis, with contributions from RSPB and Nature Canada, the session explored why COP15 will be so significant, as countries gather to agree a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Although the UK is seen as a global leader in terms of the nature initiatives it supports, attendees heard how the UK is in the lowest 12 countries for biodiversity intactness and the lowest out of the G7.
Meanwhile, although Canada is demonstrating global leadership through strong commitments to support Indigenous land stewardship and embrace global initiatives to reverse nature loss by 2030, sadly Canada is witnessing a huge scale of globally significant species and biodiversity loss, even though what is happening is within its control to reverse.
Peers and Senators heard how any new global plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss will need to send strong signals to the real economy to focus action and financing where it is most needed. Those in attendance were left with a call to action to help create lots of energy around COP15 to help capture the public’s attention and increase awareness about the benefits of nature restoration to society and the need to protect the things we love.
On the role the Lords and the Canadian Senate can play in helping to implement any new framework agreed, the task ahead will be to use all parliamentary levers available to ensure leaders at the national level translate the targets into national plans of action – so that we can start delivering for nature as quickly as possible.
