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Cop15 diary: delegates grapple with masks, snoods and meaningful action

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Wednesday, 7 December

  • Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s pledge of C$800m (£510m) over seven years to support Indigenous-led conservation projects was preceded by a ceremony led by the First Nations Elder, Ka’nahsohon Kevin Deer. It made a change from the day before when Trudeau was interrupted by Indigenous protesters at the opening ceremony.

  • The UN secretary general António Guterres spoke powerfully about the need to protect the rights of environment protesters, saying “human rights must be at the centre of all environmental concerns and namely, the work of the [UN convention on biodiversity] CBD”.

  • A new draft text of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is littered with more than 1,000 brackets, which will need dealing with over the next two weeks. The text has been described as a “mess”, with many concerned about the amount that still needs to be done.

Masks are back …. in more ways than one. A Cop15 delegate plays with a VR headset.
Masks are back …. in more ways than one. A Cop15 delegate plays with a VR headset. Photograph: Andrej Ivanov/AFP/Getty Images

  • Despite more than 20 targets being negotiated, the 30×30 goal to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030 is stealing the limelight. As delegates arrived at Montreal airport, there was no escaping the slew of posters promoting the ambition.

  • Both Canada and China have given delegates welcome bags – the former contained a snood, and the latter, a silk scarf and tea. Masks are also back and each day delegates are taking Covid tests in order to get into the conference centre.

  • The EU representative Ladislav Miko criticised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying it brings about “long-term environmental degradation”. Russian delegate Denis Rebrikov responded by saying the subject should be outside the scope of the biodiversity summit. “It’s hard to avoid the impression that these countries are deliberately trying to sabotage the adoption of a global framework,” he said.

  • It’s currently 3C in Montreal and some delegates are struggling with the cold. One was seen wearing a thick coat and woolly hat with headphones over the top in the main plenary hall.

Children looking at an ice sculpture of a polar bear.
While things were hotting up in the Palais des congrès, hats were de rigeur for anyone braving the outside in Montreal. Photograph: Christinne Muschi/Reuters

Tuesday, 6 Dec

  • The opening ceremony of Cop15 negotiations finally took place after more than two years of delays due to the pandemic. Trudeau, Guterres, and the Chinese environment minister and Cop15 president Huang Runqiu spoke at the event. Guterres said humanity has become a “weapon of mass extinction” and governments must end the “orgy of destruction” at Cop15.

  • There was good news elsewhere, with the EU announcing a ban on all products judged to have contributed to deforestation. The world’s second-largest importer of agricultural product has agreed a law to prevent companies from selling to the EU soy, beef, coffee and other commodities linked to the loss of tropical forests around the world.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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