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Dimapur, Jan. 13 (EMN): Almost a third of the world’s oceans and land should be protected by the end of the decade according to a draft Paris-style UN agreement on nature. The agreement illustrated the commitment of the UN to stop and reverse biodiversity decline that risks the survival of humanity.
The Earth has already experienced five mass extinction events. The most recent and arguably best-known being the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which occurred approximately 66 million years ago, that wiped out 75% of all species including the dinosaurs.
The Guardian on Monday reported that to combat what scientists have described as the sixth mass extinction event in Earth’s history, the proposal ‘sets a 2030 deadline for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and wildlife that perform crucial services for humans’.
The text, drafted by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, is expected to be adopted by governments in October at a crucial UN summit in the Chinese city of Kunming, it stated.
“It comes after countries largely failed to meet targets for the previous decade agreed in Aichi, Japan, in 2010. The 20-point draft plan, which has been likened to the 2015 Paris agreement on the climate crisis, aims to introduce controls on invasive species and reduce pollution from plastic waste and excess nutrients by 50%.”
The draft text has been welcomed by environmental campaigners, who have called on governments to treat the targets outlined in the accord as the minimum acceptable level for which to aim.
“By 2030, the trade in wild species must be legal and sustainable," according to the draft document, which also aims to promote the full and effective participation of indigenous people and local communities in the decision-making about biodiversity.
“The planned agreement forms part of a long-term international framework that aims to ensure biodiversity is sustainably valued and conserved by 2050,” read the report.