London: World leaders on Tuesday (September 20) stepped up financial support and conservation commitments to combat the global biodiversity crisis that threatens more than one million plant and animal species with extinction. On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, Germany pledged 1.5 billion euros per year in international biodiversity funding — more than doubling its current commitments. Nations will soon gather in Montreal, Canada, for a critical U.N. biodiversity summit (COP15) to finalise and adopt a framework to protect and conserve nature.
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Over half of the world’s GDP depends heavily on the natural world, according to a 2020 report by the World Economic Forum.
The December conference “needs to be a turning point for our conservation efforts”, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he announced the new funding. “With this contribution, we want to send a strong signal for an ambitious outcome of the biodiversity COP15.”
World leaders have so far struggled to agree a new global framework.
Economists say that to reverse the decline in biodiversity by 2030, the world needs to be spending as much as $967 billion annually, giving a current gap of more than $800 billion a year.
While Germany has pledged the most funding out of any industrialised country, others announced new strategies, including a plan for financing biodiversity backed by Ecuador, Gabon and the United Kingdom, among others.
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The plan “defines what we expect from governments, financial institutions, the private sector, philanthropists and civil society, to face the challenge of increasing and mobilizing resources for biodiversity,” said Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso.
Those who attended the high-level side event, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reiterated their commitment to protect and conserve at least 30% of their land and ocean territory by 2030.
“Canada is making historic progress to reach our commitment,” PM Trudeau said. “We will continue to mobilize global support to reach this target and protect biodiversity around the planet.”
Currently, about 17 per cent of the world’s land area is under protection, according to a 2021 report by the World Economic Forum. But just 7 per cent of the global ocean is under some sort of conservation scheme, with less than 3 per cent highly protected.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
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