The two-week UN COP15 biodiversity summit started this week in Montreal. The meeting takes place in the shadow of COP27, and its dismal failure to tackle the crucial climate issue of decarbonisation.
This failure means we now need greater changes in behaviour than ever to reduce emissions and avert the most dangerous temperature rises. It’s here that the issue of biodiversity could perhaps play a key role: if the loss of nature, which people have been aware of for decades, can be linked to the wider context of the climate emergency and decarbonisation in the public imagination.
COP15 has a hugely complex agenda, with 20,000 participants and over 150 states involved. Many areas of considerable difference between the attendees are already evident and there is not too much hope of progress.
