The fourth "one planet" summit was held in Paris through a combination of live and video calls, with the theme of biodiversity conservation. The live video conference of the "one planet" summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris is being broadcast on computers and mobile phones. In the front screen is French President Marcon's speech at the summit. Photo provided by Xinhua News Agency

"At the fourth one planet Summit on Monday, at least 50 countries pledged to protect 30% of the earth's land and oceans over the next 10 years to prevent species extinction and address climate change."

On January 11, the global summit "one planet" aimed at protecting the world's biodiversity was held. The conference was held in the form of video, focusing on biodiversity, aiming to enhance the international community's awareness of nature conservation and other aspects, and to cope with new challenges.

Focus 1

Which countries and organizations attended the summit? What are the key issues?

"One planet" is the prelude of the new year's high level meeting in the field of environment. The goal of this meaningful summit is to raise the ambition to deal with biodiversity loss at the beginning of 2021. In this highly anticipated year, in order to better protect the planet's homeland, the summit selected four key topics: protecting terrestrial and marine ecosystems, promoting agricultural ecology, increasing funds for biodiversity protection through financial support, and the impact of deforestation on species health.

Among them, biodiversity conservation has become the focus of the summit. French President Emmanuel macron announced that the "high ambition for nature and people" launched by Costa Rica, France and the UK in 2019 will establish a plan to cover 30% of the world's land and marine reserves by 2030“ The "30-30" initiative has been supported and participated by more than 50 countries. "The 30-30 initiative is a good start and could be the cornerstone of an important biodiversity conference in Kunming, China." International environmental protection organizations attending the meeting said, "but in the long run, this strength is not enough and needs to be strengthened."

Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, said frankly that "by 2030, there will be a funding gap of about 711 billion US dollars per year for biodiversity conservation."

Han Zheng, vice premier of the State Council of China, attended the summit and delivered a speech by video on January 11. He said that China will hold the 15th Conference of the parties to the Convention on biological diversity in Kunming this year. The conference will formulate a "global biodiversity framework beyond 2020" and draw up a blueprint for biodiversity conservation in the next 10 years. All parties should work hand in hand to ensure the positive results of the conference, launch a new process of global biodiversity governance, and promote the co construction of a community of life on earth. First, we should take the road of win-win cooperation, strengthen communication, and work together to promote the framework negotiation process. Second, we should take the road of both ambition and pragmatism, conduct scientific research and formulate post-2020 action goals to ensure rationality and enforceability. Third, we should take the road of common improvement, strengthen resource mobilization and implementation guarantee, and effectively improve the implementation capacity of developing countries.

It is reported that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Central Bank President Christina Lagarde, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and European Commission President Ursula von draen attended the summit.

The absence of us leaders at the summit has raised concerns. It is reported that Biden, the president-elect, was unable to attend the summit because he was officially in the White House on the 20th of this month. However, many media believe that in response to Biden's public commitment to better protect biodiversity, it is expected to protect 30% of the land and waters of the United States by 2030, and the United States is likely to further participate in and promote the process of global biodiversity.

Focus 2

What role does the world bank, as one of the sponsors, play in the summit?

Every six seconds or so, a tropical forest the size of a football field is cut down or burned. What happened in 2020 confirms that the alarm bell of natural environment degradation has been sounded. "Ten years ago, many of the biodiversity goals set by countries around the world were missed and suffered heavy losses." Guterres said.

As one of the sponsors of the "one planet" summit, the world bank announced at this session that it plans to invest more than US $5 billion in the next five years to help restore soil degradation in 11 African countries from Senegal to Djibouti.

After announcing the investment, David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, said: "as countries recover from covid-19, investment at this critical moment will help improve the livelihoods of developing countries and curb the impact of biodiversity loss and climate change on their economies and people's livelihood."

It is worth noting that this $5 billion financing will go to the Sahel region of Africa. The Sahel is a belt of more than 3800 kilometers between the Sahara desert in northern Africa and the steppe region in central Sudan, extending from the western Atlantic to the horn of eastern Africa. In this region, 11 countries involved in Lake Chad and the horn of Africa are supported in the fields of agriculture, biodiversity, community development, food security and landscape restoration.

At the same time, the global fund program under the world bank, together with many partners, has invested US $14.5 million in countries such as Mozambique, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania, so as to accelerate the establishment of the "Green Wall" initiative project in the Sahel in the next five years, curb the desertification process in the region through large-scale planting of trees, and create more employment opportunities.

In this regard, the chairman of the African Union Commission, Moussa faki Mahamat, expressed his gratitude and stressed that "the restoration of natural ecosystems in the arid areas of Africa is beneficial to both human beings and the earth."

At present, the World Bank Group is the largest multilateral investor in climate investment in developing countries. In December 2020, the World Bank Group announced an ambitious new goal, that is, to spend an average of 35% of its funds on climate co benefits over the next five years.

Focus 3

What areas have the four "one planet" summit made commitments in?

In addition, one of the most anticipated initiatives at this summit is that the General Assembly will create a task force on financial risks related to nature. The initiative, initiated and promoted by the UK, aims to provide investors and businesses with some notification rules. The contents of the circular include the impact of its investment or operation on the environment, as well as the risks brought about by the destruction of the environment.

Environmental protection in the Mediterranean region has also become one of the concerns of this summit. Makron said that the Mediterranean is a "treasure" and needs to be protected. It is the common responsibility of all countries to jointly safeguard the natural ecological environment of the Mediterranean. He said that more protected areas will be established in the Mediterranean, overfishing and marine pollution will be ended, and more green marine transportation will be promoted.

The previous three summits also achieved good results. According to statistics, at present, the "one planet" summit has reached 12 commitments, involving the extreme climate of island countries, land and water resources protection under climate change, zero carbon emissions, zero pollution transportation, low-carbon economy and other fields.

Take the extreme climate of island countries as an example. Due to more frequent hurricanes and high sea level rise, 26 countries have joined the initiative to help island countries adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change. At the same time, more than 40 private sector and intergovernmental partners announced that they would vigorously promote the establishment of the world's first climate smart zone in the Caribbean region. 2.3 billion dollars will be used to build a climate smart city in Grenada, one of the Caribbean islands. Airbnb, a global B & B short rent apartment platform, also provides shelter for survivors and disaster relief workers in extreme disasters.

Since the launch of "one planet" in 2017, the distance between developed countries and less developed regions, between countries and financial institutions, between enterprises and disaster victims is getting closer.

At the meeting, Guterres still expressed concern about the current strength of global environmental governance. He believes that, so far, the measures and practices of restoring nature in the global scope have not achieved obvious results. According to the prediction of scientists, the current rate of global species extinction is 100-1000 times of the historical background rate before the emergence of human beings. Once the ecological environment is unbalanced, the consequences are not just the case of pandemic, which may be more complex. Countries should pay attention to it and also have a sense of crisis.

As a spokesman for the host country, makron still expressed confidence in the summit and the process of promoting climate and environmental governance. "If we decide to do it, we can change the end of the story. One planet is trying to do this. "

Source: China Environment News