COP15: Your Guide to the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference – The Nature Conservancy

4. Why was TNC at COP15?

As leaders of governments worldwide prepare to set new global targets for protecting biodiversity, TNC stands ready to help nations realize their bold ambitions. This is core to our mission and our priorities.  We must safeguard nature not only for its own sake, but also to temper climate change and protect communities around the world.

Here are some key principles that TNC encourages:

More—and more diverse—protection is necessary. We’re heartened by the Campaign for Nature’s and the High Ambition Coalition’s effort to raise ambitions, proposing that 30% of critical habitats be protected by 2030. We must also remember that protection can take many forms—from China’s new national parks system to Canadian efforts to return lands and waters to their rightful Indigenous owners for traditional forms of resource management and protection.

Inclusive conservation and respect for Indigenous Peoples and local communities is critical. Indigenous groups have managed their lands in harmony with nature for thousands of years. Recent science is now acknowledging this. The most effective protection efforts work with communities to ensure that their voices are heard and their needs and traditions respected as protection conservation efforts are cocreated.

Water matters: Protecting 30% must represent the full diversity of life on Earth across terrestrial, marine and freshwater biomes and the ecosystems within them. While terrestrial protection is critical for meeting the dual global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, land alone cannot solve the world’s problems. Freshwater, coastal and high seas environments must also be priorities.

Conservation must be durable. We need to make sure conservation actions are built and financed to last. Practices must provide long-term sustainable financing to fill the nature gap and meet ongoing management needs. They should include the right policies, legal structures and community support to ensure that a conservation area system can withstand economic downturns, political tumult or even the next pandemic.