COP 28 for Biodiversity Advocates
What Can Biodiversity Advocates Expect from COP28?
COP 28 is now underway in Dubai. The focus of the assembly necessarily is on the twin goals of phasing out fossil fuels and creating real commitments from wealthy countries to fund adaptation measures for poor countries most immediately affected by climate change. The meeting convenes in the hottest year in recorded history. What does this mean for biodiversity? (The UN conference on biodiversity - commonly known as COP 15 - was held in December, 2022, in Montreal and defined a number of targets for achieving global biodiversity.)
There are at least three major threats to global biodiversity that will be touched on in conference proceedings because they either are considered causes of a warming earth (deforestation) or byproducts of climate change (fire and human migration). According to the standard climate wisdom, deforestation produces large releases of carbon dioxide and undercuts the positive role of forests in absorbing green house gases. In so far as forests are cleared to increase livestock ranching, even more warming is caused by methane emissions. Forests further are threatened by prolonged droughts caused by changing global weather patterns. Drying of forests leads to more calamitous fires, which often result in loss of life or livelihood for human populations dependent on forests, thus precipitating massive human migrations. Climate migration also is precipitated by disastrous weather events, such as hurricanes and prolonged droughts, which destroy arable land. These climate refugees strain resources of native countries or result in border closures and disputes when migration crosses country borders.
The responses to these threats of course are filtered through the lens of the human suffering caused by climate change. As noted above, the COP 28 strategies to resolve these problems involve holding or reversing the level of emissions residing in the atmosphere today, and providing mass funding for food, shelter and security for displaced populations. Many countries now have “pledged” to stop deforestation and to contribute funds for climate migrants. Is it enough to conserve biodiversity? The answer of course is “no.”
Partly that is because COP 28 strategies are long-term (perhaps necessarily) and politically difficult to achieve, while the loss of biodiversity is globally catastrophic and now. And partly because the causes of such losses are independent of climate change.
Take deforestation. Stop it now; p[edging simply is not sufficient. Those countries with vast forest resources must declare a moratorium on clearing forests for any purpose, backed by rigorous enforcement measures. A universal scale must be developed to assess each country’s scorecard in achieving this goal. International aid from developed countries must be focused on the economic consequences of stopping deforestation as much as on providing funding for climate adaptation. Such aid must be conditioned on a country’s performance in routing out the causes of deforestation, which are two-fold: industrial clearance of forests for agriculture and ranching, and subsistence farming.
Unlike in temperate climates, one principal agent of the destruction of tropical rainforests is fire. Developed countries are now familiar with destructive forest fires made worse by climate change, such as those occurring in the American West and throughout Canada and Siberia, and lately even in Mediterranean countries. Most such fires result from natural causes. This has led to the strategy of removing excess fuel from forests through controlled burns, which mimic some former practices of native peoples. No such strategies are needed for fire management in tropical rainforests. Even clearance of small tracts for subsistence agriculture results in uncontrolled fires that destroy far more forests than the target plot. The important point is that humans in such lands deliberately set fires to clear forests. Such practices are independent of climate change and can be stopped with appropriate governmental and private actions.
A contributing factor to tropical deforestation is the practice of some governments to entitle displaced people to forested land, conditioning entitlement on “productive” use of the forest tract. In practice, this does not mean sustainable practices, such as growing shade coffee; rather it means land clearance for housing and subsistence agriculture. These programs are aimed at diffusing political strife and fostering “land reform” for native populations that were historically displaced from their lands or exploited by corporate interests. While understandable from a social justice viewpoint, the result is perpetuation of the cycle of deforestation. Program goals can be achieved by sustainable means, though not without financial support from developed nations. By defining adaptation in such terms, mass internal migrations can be ameliorated. Financial aid for displaced peoples should be conditioned on forest preservation strategies.
A word about reforestation also is timely. COP 28 also touches on reforestation, as other conventions have before it, particularly in relation to carbon taxing. The idea is that private corporations can achieve carbon neutrality by planting trees. The measurement of carbon neutrality has not been standardized. But the more meaningful inquiry for purposes of biodiversity preservation is what kinds of trees and where are they going to be planted. Anyone who has traveled in the tropics is familiar with the stands of pine trees or gum trees now occupying what used to be rain forests. No carbon credits should be extended to corporations unless the trees are native and planted to enhance existing forests or to create corridors connecting forest remnants.
While the topics discussed here perhaps are most appropriate for biodiversity conventions, we would hope that COP 28 participants also address these issues as well, particularly in relation to funding programs to assist developing nations affected by climate change. Follow the conference along with us to see where things land.
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If you are interested in fictionalized versions of where this planet could wind up if we do not advocate for biodiversity, I have written 2 climate fiction books which you can find here:
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-Terry