COP15 highlights: the future of biodiversity

“We must fix the world we have”,
António Guterres – Secretary-General of the United Nations, 2022

The COP15 biodiversity summit commenced on 7th December and concluded on 19th December. This was a crucial moment in environmental news as none of the targets from the previous COP10 were achieved. Now more than ever, twelve years later, the stakes are higher with the “age of extinction”, measurable changes should be activated towards healing our planet.

In order to create positive futures, we must tackle the issues surrounding biodiversity. During some of the wider COP15 coverage, environmental correspondent Navin Singh Khaka from BBC World Service highlighted that “climate change effects biodiversity” and there is an intrinsic doom loop between them. The need for greater action, accomplishments and pledges to enhance our life, how we live and survive were therefore focal points for this year’s conference. 

What were some of the main targets for the COP15 summit? 

• Reducing the risks of extinction threatening more than one million species
• Protecting 30% of land and sea
• Restoring degraded ecosystems 

How can we locally enhance biodiversity? 

To enhance biodiversity, we need to come together. Fundamentally, addressing the nature and climate crisis as one entity – is intrinsic to putting this into effect. “1 in 5 species are at risk of extinction” as mentioned by Nick Bruce-White (RSPB). With an awareness of this, we can act with more intentionality towards enhancing biodiversity. Tackling the individual layers surrounding conservation, consumption, and production, one by one. 

Climate activist, Laura Young raised insightful points on how we can do this collectively. From looking after local council areas, tending to your gardens and caring for natural marine species. It can be as simple as adding flower boxes for bees and pollinators in outdoor spaces. This is a smaller but immediate gesture that can add to the bigger picture of solving how we are caring for our natural environment. Alys Laver, Reserves Manager, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust reiterated the benefits of looking after wildlife, from a holistic viewpoint: “By restoring wetlands, we know that the wildlife are coming here and it is supporting biodiversity. There are also health and wellbeing benefits for people, carbon storage properties and this is vital for our fight against climate change”. Through working with local communities and environmental organisations, we can contribute and create a more positive eco-footprint.

The UK has announced a pledge of £30m to support developing countries in reaching the target of protecting 30% of the land and ocean by 2030. However, the environmental secretary Thérèse Coffey has faced criticism that this amount is “nothing like what’s needed”, said Craig Bennett, CEO of Wildlife Trusts, at COP15. Developing countries have pushed for wealthier nations to provide 100 billion per year until 2030 to help finance conservation in their territories.

What obstacles still need to be tackled? 

There was a clear divide during stages of the COP15 summit. Not only between sub-communities, but also financially between developed and undeveloped countries. President Huang Runqiu told journalists of a lot of gaps between parties and stated: “Countries have to demonstrate flexibility, to come to more consensus – that will be good for achieving our goals at the conference”. With the main intention of the conference focusing on curving biodiversity loss, there needs to be more of an alliance between our nations.

Can a nature-positive approach support biodiversity?

Nature positive has multiple definitions – considering different components of nature, reversing biodiversity loss, and moving towards nature recovery and regeneration. By energising a cleaner future and having greater awareness towards the impacts that consumption and production have on our environment, we can move towards an environmentally sustainable future. This will feed back into our biodiverse ecosystem.

Our environmental landscape 

The COP15 summit has reflected the collective changes that need to take place for biodiversity to expand and grow. Evidently, there needs to be more collaborative thinking on the joint issues taking place. Tony Juniper, head of Natural England, emphasised the importance of making nature disclosures by businesses mandatory by 2030 and to halve production and consumption by 2030, too. Are these goals attainable and how can we ensure that they are achieved?

We should consider the environment from a holistic point of view. Treaty on waste, COP15 on biodiversity, COP27 on our climate – hopefully through this, we will close the gap on the loss of our biodiverse ecosystem. These are important discussions that remain interlinked and should be examined together to bring greater harmony and restoration to the planet.

At Exagen, we have a systematic approach to delivering projects that provide significant biodiversity improvement, as well as ensuring energy and food security. There are extreme pressures on agriculture, often at the detriment of biodiversity – in light of recent global changes following Brexit, with landowners getting less to set aside land on the fringes of biodiversity. Therefore, solar projects offer a greatly secure and diverse income that allows farmers to continue farming sustainably. The solar farms also enhance vegetation, the cessation of pesticides and insecticide use, all of which is hugely beneficial.

Our team’s experience in delivering local benefits that work in harmony with nature, farmers and the local community has deepened with every project that we have delivered. We are continually exploring and researching where we can increase both food and energy production to help heal our planet. 

To learn more, visit our biodiversity policy.