After two weeks of intense debate at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP15, delegates from around the world agreed on Monday to adopt the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
"This is a historic moment," said Huang Runqiu, COP15 president and China's minister of ecology and environment, who noted that the adoption was the result of numerous efforts by all parties.
The new framework is a commitment by 196 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to conserve at least 30 percent of the Earth's land and ocean area by the next decade. It will also increase the expected annual financial assistance from developed countries through 2030 to help developing nations with biodiversity protection.
Furthermore, it promises to reduce government subsidies that are harmful to nature by at least $500 billion per year, addresses the rights of indigenous people, and calls for gender equity in the implementation of the framework.
Focusing on the title, Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth, the largest UN biodiversity gathering in a decade is tasked with elaborating on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and identifying protection goals through 2030.
The first phase of COP15 was successfully held in Kunming from Oct 11 to 15, which included the opening ceremony, leaders' speeches and the issuing of the Kunming Declaration.
The second part lasted from Dec 7 to 19, with China still holding the presidency. In this phase, parties met to conclude negotiations and decide on the framework.
