CALI, Colombia (AP) — Global efforts to protect the world’s plants and animals have made modest progress and some species continue to suffer serious declines, according to two reports released Monday at a major United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia.
A report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) assessed global progress since the 2020 biodiversity report. Two years ago, 196 countries signed a historic treaty to protect biodiversity on 30% of the planet by 2030.
The biodiversity summit currently taking place in Cali, Colombia, follows on from the 2022 agreement in Montreal, which includes 23 measures to halt and reverse nature loss. It calls for protecting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030.
The UNEP report shows that countries have made some progress on their commitments, but the expansion of the global network must accelerate over the next six years to reach the goal. The report says that 17.6% of land and inland waters and 8.4% of ocean and coastal areas worldwide are within documented protected and protected areas.
“The increase in reporting since 2020, equivalent to more than twice the size of Colombia, is to be celebrated,” UNEP said in a press release. “But it is an increase of less than 0.5 percentage points in both areas.”
To meet the global target, a land area roughly the size of Brazil and Australia combined, and a sea area larger than the Indian Ocean, must be protected and conserved by 2030.
“It is… equally important that these areas are effective and that they do not negatively impact the people who live in and around them, who are often their most valuable custodians,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director. “Today’s groundbreaking report shows some progress has been made over the past four years, but we are not progressing nearly far or fast enough.”
The UNEP report uses the latest official data reported by governments and other stakeholders in the initiative.
“The ’30 by 30′ is an ambitious goal, but one that is still within reach if the international community works together across borders, demographics and sectors,” said Grethel Aguilar, director general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). ).
The IUCN reported on Monday that 38% of the world’s trees are threatened with extinction.
The Swiss-headquartered organization says the Red List of endangered species now includes 166,061 species – of which 46,337 are threatened with extinction.
Trees now account for more than a quarter of the species on the endangered list, and the number of threatened trees is more than double the number of endangered birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined, according to IUCN.
Tree species are threatened with extinction in 192 countries around the world, the organization said. The majority of threatened trees are found on islands, as they are at particularly high risk from deforestation for urban development and agriculture, as well as from invasive species, pests and diseases.
“This comprehensive assessment presents the first global picture of the conservation status of trees, allowing us to make more informed conservation decisions and take action to protect trees where it is urgently needed,” said Malin Rivers, Global Tree Assessment lead at Botanic Gardens Conservation. International.
According to IUCN, the global loss of trees poses a major threat to thousands of other plants, fungi and animals.
The report also notes that the conservation status of the Western European hedgehog has deteriorated and it is now listed as “near threatened”, with numbers estimated to have declined by 16 to 33% over the past decade.
The worst declines of up to 50% have been documented in Bavaria, Germany, and Flanders, Belgium. The decline is caused by “increasing human pressures, particularly the degradation of rural habitats due to agricultural intensification, roads and urban development,” the report said.
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