TNC and WWF Disappointed in “Shameful Lack of Progress”
During the last week of June, negotiators from 195 countries and the EU met in Nairobi, Kenya in a final attempt to solidify the text for a “Global Diversity Framework” that is to be adopted at the UN Biodiversity talks in Canada this December. The talks failed to nail down the 30×30 objective, protecting 30% of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030, known as “Target #3.”
Two of the world’s largest land trusts, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), both of which are poised to reap enormous conservation assets from the 30×30 agenda, made public their dismay at the failure. The TNC press release headline reads “Process and Ambition Failures Lead to Shameful Lack of Progress for Nature at UN Talks.” WWF lead with “Dire Lack of Leadership and Blockers in UN Biodiversity Talks Make Risk of Failure at COP15 Real.”
Earlier in the month, TNC had promoted the event registering their hope that the ambitious agenda transforming how natural resources are to be owned and used by humans, would be settled by the workgroup. In their “Global Insights” June report, they described the meeting as “very much a decision-making meeting—there will be active negotiations amongst these representatives to shape the text of the new global framework.”
However, it turns out that the negotiator’s failed to settle and advance several key goals important to the TNC mission, including 30×30. In their follow-up press release they state:
“30X30 was negotiated until the early hours of Sunday morning, but little progress was made. The text remains in brackets. There has been no discussion of the 30% target figure itself. …While there is largely consensus around the direction of this target (Target 3), of significant concern is the potential removal of inland waters from the text of Target 3. A 30X30 target that focuses on land and sea areas neglects the evidence that freshwater biodiversity is the most threatened and least protected on the planet and lacks the ambition necessary to end biodiversity loss.”
TNC expressed disappointment in failing to advance 30×30, as well as, failing to include provisions that the same restrictions would also apply to all freshwater streams and rivers. The Biden Administration is currently pursuing this goal through the re-write of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulatory rule.
The World Wildlife Fund echoed the disappointment:
“As the UN Biodiversity talks draw to a close, WWF is deeply concerned by the lack of urgency and leadership shown by governments to prioritize nature loss at the highest level. Worse still, in WWF’s view, the negotiations are being held hostage by a small group of countries focused on undermining the process and weakening ambition. … Governments have, however, made limited progress in Nairobi, leaving the chance of securing a transformative global agreement capable of tackling the world’s accelerating nature crisis hanging by a thread.”
TNC had also been promoting, in advance of these negotiations, a report released by The Stockholm Environmental Institute entitled “Stockholm 50: Unlocking a Better Future.” Some of the key actions advanced in this report include designating “Nature as a legal entity with personhood,” and “Businesses should shift to offering functions and services rather than products as much as possible.” In other words, the majority of the population will no longer own any property. The ownership and use of the property will be held by the morally superior elites who will be monitoring our compliance and setting the sustainability standards.
The upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference will be held December 5-17 in Montreal, Canada, under the presidency of the Government of China.
