Montreal biodiversity deal falters as nations miss targets — SkimNews
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- River Wensum suffered a mass fish die-off of over 3,000 fish due to pollution flushed by heavy rain amid heatwave conditions, highlighting the ecological fragility of one of Britain’s few legally protected chalk rivers.
- Nearly every government on Earth committed in 2022 to the Montreal biodiversity deal, agreeing to protect 30% of land and sea, restore degraded ecosystems, and reform $500bn in harmful subsidies by the end of the decade.
- The UK is on track to meet only 3 of 23 biodiversity targets despite being a vocal advocate in Montreal, having weakened biodiversity net gain rules, cut rainforest funding, and rejected a ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas.
- António Guterres warned that 'the war on nature has not ended' and urged governments to end fossil fuel subsidies, calling them 'subsidising suicide' during his address at the Cop17 summit in Yerevan.
- Donald Trump’s second presidency caused a collapse in U.S. conservation funding, with USAID cuts eliminating support for global projects from Galápagos anti-poaching to Gorongosa park restoration in Mozambique.
- Countries have failed to deliver promised finance, with a fund intended to raise hundreds of millions from commercial use of digital biodiversity collecting only $6,000 so far, while private sector engagement remains minimal.
- Li Shuo of the Asia Society Policy Institute stated that protection targets are falling short, national plans are missing, and finance is not reaching where needed, calling the gap between commitment and action a 'shared dynamic' across environmental efforts.
Why it matters: Governments risk undermining global biodiversity goals they championed, as the UK and others face credibility gaps between rhetoric and action while conservation funding plummets—jeopardizing ecosystem stability, species survival, and climate resilience despite scientific warnings of a looming extinction crisis.
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