UNITY IN BIO DIVERSITY.

 Winter of 2015 in Paris witnessed significant achievement of 193 countries and European union coming together for the first time to forge a common strategy to trim green house gas emissions that were irreversibly cracking the  Planet.The Agreement decided to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and the pact established a benchmark, a clear goal and path forward to tackle the climate crisis. However the more neglected questions of biodiversity conservation achieved a similar global benchmark  in December 2022 when  in Montreal, Canada where 196 countries signed a landmark deal to  protect and save lands,oceans, and species from pollution, degradation and climate change after more than 4 years of intense debates and discussions. Both these conferences owe their origin primarily to  Rio earth summit in 1992. Planet's rich biodiversity is the result of at least four billion years of evolution that has left all forms of life intricately evolved together. Even Though scientists have identified about 1.6 million different species only a meager part of it exist presently. Based on current trends the United Nations points out that an estimated 34000 plants and 52000 animal species and one in eight of weeds or bird species which face extinction. About 30% of breeds of  main forms of animal species are currently at high risk of extinction.Despite the fact that forests account for most of the known terrestrial biodiversity,  distressingly about 45% of earth's original forests either disappeared or cleared during the last century alone. 

 The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of Kunming-Montreal conference  on December 19 2022,has reached an historic agreement and adopted a set of 4 objectives and 23 targets to achieve, arrest and reverse biodiversity loss.The four objectives are - A. The  integrity, connectivity and resilience of all eco systems are maintained, enhanced or restored substantially increasing the area of natural ecosystems by 2050.The pact  called for urgent action to halt human induced extinction of  threatened species, reduce pollution risks and negative impact of pollution from all sources by 2050.B. .Biodiversity is sustainably used and managed and that nature's contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, are valued, maintained and enhanced with those currently in decline, being restored supporting achievement of sustainable development, for the benefit of present and future generations by  2050.C. The monetary and non monetary benefits from the utilisation of genetic resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources traditional knowledge associated with traditional knowledge and genetic resources are shared fairly and equitably, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in accordance with internationally agreed access and benefit sharing instruments.D.Adequate means of  implementation, including financial resources,  capacity building,technical and scientific cooperation, and access to and transfer of technology to fully implement the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework are secured and equitably to accessible to all parties especially developing and particularly least developed, small island states and transition economies, progressively closing the biodiversity finance gap of $100 billion every year and aligning financial flows with Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the 2050 vision for biodiversity. 

The agreement envisaged to bring the loss of areas of high biodiversity significance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, close to zero by 2030 while  respecting the rights of indigenous people and local communities. The most important target of the GBF is commonly referred as 30 ×30 deal which basically focuses to restore 30% degraded global ecosystems both on land and sea by 2030, and to conserve and manage 30% of terrestrial, inland water and Coastal and marine by 2030.With regard to species extinction the objective is to stop the extinction of known species, and by 2050 reduce tenfold the extinction risk  of all species both known and unknown. Similarly the risks from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals must be reduced at least by 50% by 2030.Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation. Progressively phase out or reform subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $ 500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. The accord for abolishing environmentally destructive farming subsidies,reducing risks from pesticides,tackling invasive species and negotiations on global finance package to support conservation efforts globally are very important. Direct causes for biodiversity loss are originally attributed to land use change, over exploitation, climate change and pollution. 

As far as financing of biodiversity protection is concerned ideologically  like in climate finance, developed countries are obligated to pay the lion's share.Global Biodiversity Framework is targeted to raise annual international finance flows to poorer countries at least $ 25 billion by 2025 and $ 30 billion by 2030.Biodiversity finance refers to the practice of raising capital and managing funds for biodiversity conservation which aims to support the conservation of land, water and other natural resources in a long term diversified manner. Theoretically biodiversity financing can be promoted by national Government, international institutions and private sector.The targeted $25  billion in 2025 and $30 billion by 2030 are agreed to mobilise through public funding. Some analysts observed that in funding the existing mechanism to protect biodiversity there is  a real gap of $ 750 billion annually. This can be provided only by coordinating innovative economical and appropriate use of vital biodiversity resources ,traditional knowledge and green technology through market mechanism. Creating a system of incentives to the local communities which is real, complete, measurable, quick and understandable will revolutionize the livelihood conditions and life of the local population. 

Infact the historic GBF deal where all countries unanimously agreed to protect biodiversity conservation were both ambitious and realistic. Inorder to achieve four goals and twenty three targets by 2030 both concerted collective efforts and financial support system are required. But in the present highly liberalised global order availability of public finances will be inadequate. Hence development and maintenance of local digital biodiversity registers within and across countries,creating awareness among the local communities and major stake holders of biodiversity and traditional knowledge holders are required to capitalize, innovate and utilise their knowledge for creation of valuable products or services. Appropriate technologies invariably green technologies along with decentralised/ community participation mechanism can be effectively utilised for this purpose.