COP15 is shorthand for the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Today, the world’s nations are coming together in Montreal for the 15th annual conference about world biodiversity. The goal is to make plans to halt and reverse nature loss around the world. Nature is crucial in stopping the increase in global warming and capturing the carbon that has over-saturated our atmosphere. Oceans, mangroves and forests are the key elements in the planetary cycle which allow for life on earth. These are the GOALS listed for COP15:
Adoption of an equitable and comprehensive framework matched by the resources needed for implementation
Clear targets to address overexploitation, pollution, fragmentation and unsustainable agricultural practices
A plan that safeguards the rights of indigenous peoples and recognizes their contributions as stewards of nature
Finance for biodiversity and alignment of financial flows with nature to drive finances toward sustainable investments and away from environmentally harmful ones
There is an easy assumption that the world is huge and it can handle the changes mankind has introduced. But the fact is, 75% of the Earth’s land and 66% of the oceans have been altered by humans. That the alteration is definitively negative in that it has reduced the earth’s capacity to self-regulate.
The late comedian George Carlin joked that “the planet isn’t going anywhere, we are”. The truthfulness of that statement is being lived by communities all over the world, but we don’t need to look far abroad when changes are happening in Canada. In November 2021, the city of Abbotsford was catastrophically flooded after heavy rainfalls caused the nearby river to overflow. The real issue lies in the fact that the city was built on a flood-plain and lake which developers thought they could drain and keep under control. The estimate to repair the damages to the City is currently at $1.25 billion. This does not include the damages to business disruption. On the other side of Canada are the devastated fishery communities of the Atlantic. In 1992, the federal government had to ban cod fishery along Canada’s eastern coast. Overfishing had almost completely destroyed the fish stocks. Those fish stocks have still not recovered, and many communities continue to face economic challenges, more than thirty years later. What is shocking about the incident is that the year prior to the collapse, Canadian fishermen pulled in more cod than any other season.
These incidents are evidence that humans continue to be, and always will be, at nature’s mercy. For the sake of our own preservation, we need to live in harmony with it. This is the reason there has now been a rising movement towards inclusion of Indigenous peoples around the world in nature restoration and management efforts. Native tribes have thousands of years of knowledge of how to live with the land and ensure all species’ survival.
For tourism, that means partnering with First Nations to manage Canadian National Parks and wild spaces, rehabilitating animal populations and teaching new generations sustainable practices. The Yukon Territory is an excellent example in how these partnerships can be made and how the goals of COP15 can be achieved. The Yukon has been designated by the UN as a member of the International Tourism Organization’s Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories. This means that the Territory uses environmental and socio-economic conditions to guide evidence-based decision making in its strategies and management plans. The Yukon’s First Nations are integrated into all levels of government, tourism development and land management. The Yukon Sustainable Tourism Framework monitors 17 elements of sustainable tourism including:
climate action;
infrastructure;
management of water, energy and waste;
cultural sustainability, accessibility, inclusivity, equity and diversity;
resident and visitor sentiment;
employment; and
public health and safety.
We will be watching with hope and anticipation as the conference unfolds in Montreal. These words by Professor Andrew Gonzales of McGill University illustrate the tremendous importance of COP15:
“This is a generational meeting that will decide the level of ambition for the new Global Biodiversity Framework - the new agreement to protect and restore biodiversity and the many benefits we get from biodiversity. We must be ambitious and mainstream the importance of biodiversity in policies and decisions we make across all sectors of society. The agreement is a call to all of society - time is running out to avoid a mass extinction event and ecosystem degradation on a planetary scale.”
For more information on COP15, visit: https://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022
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