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Delegates from countries all over the world will gather in Montreal for the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is taking place from December 7 to 19. It will be the most important worldwide meeting for biodiversity in over 10 years.
At this CBD COP15, parties will be working to establish a new common global framework for biodiversity restoration and protection. Why? Because biodiversity is in decline, with one million animal and plant species threatened with extinction1. Biodiversity decline goes far beyond the loss of iconic animals such as the polar bear. When biodiversity is lost, all living things are threatened.
Biodiversity is everything that’s alive. It’s you, it’s us, it’s everything that makes up the ecosystems that allow us to live on this planet. It’s the food that nourishes us, it’s the water that hydrates us. It’s the microorganisms that decompose living things at the end of their lives so that they can feed the soil and generate new life.
Why is biodiversity declining?
Natural habitats and food chains are not only being impacted by climate change. Ecosystems are being carved up by roads, cleared for urban and industrial expansion, dug up for minerals and oil, fractured for gas... Our current economic system, and to some extent our governments, do not prioritize the living world.
The Global Biodiversity Framework to be adopted at COP15 will call for profound changes within our society to “transform economic, social and financial models so that the trends that have exacerbated biodiversity loss will stabilize in the next 10 years (by 2030) and allow for the recovery of natural ecosystems in the following 20 years.”2
Équiterre will be at COP15
Équiterre's work to fight and mitigate the impacts of the environmental crisis is inextricably linked with the fight against biodiversity loss.
Équiterre is attending COP15 to monitor progress on the global framework and will working in three areas of activity:
- Highlighting the importance of soil biodiversity
- Mobilizing against projects that would destroy biodiversity
- Raising awareness on the impacts of biodiversity loss
To find out how you can join us, check the timeline on our event page. If you have any other questions about COP15, check out our FAQ.
