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	COP 15: We are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate, with dire consequences looming by UN News, CBD, IPBES, WWF, agencies   Biodiversity, the variety of all life on earth, is being lost at an alarming rate. Ecosystems, from forests and deserts to freshwater and oceans, are in steep decline. One million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction. Genetic diversity is disappearing.   Underpinning human well-being and livelihoods, biodiversity is the source of essential resources and ecosystem functions that sustain human life, including food production, purification of air and water, and climate stabilization. The planet’s life-support systems are at stake.   While a series of major global assessments provide the scientific basis of the urgent need to address biodiversity loss, policy action lags behind. None of the Aichi Targets of the Strategic Plan on Biodiversity 2011-2020 were achieved.   Held under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference aims to take stronger action to reverse this trend. This includes addressing the root causes of biodiversity loss that are linked to economic priorities leading to inequitable and unsustainable development.   Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on to provide us with the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.   Some aspects of biodiversity are instinctively widely valued by people but the more we study biodiversity the more we see that all of it is important – even bugs and bacteria that we can’t see or may not like the look of. There are lots of ways that humans depend upon biodiversity and it is vital for us to conserve it.   Pollinators such as birds, bees and other insects are estimated to be responsible for a third of the world’s crop production. Without pollinators we would not have many of the foods we eat. Agriculture is also reliant upon invertebrates – they help to maintain the health of the soil crops grow in. Soil is teeming with microbes that are vital for liberating nutrients that plants need to grow, which are then also passed to us when we eat them.   Life from the oceans provides the main source of animal protein for many people. Trees, bushes and wetlands and wild grasslands naturally slow down water and help soil to absorb rainfall. When they are removed it can increase flooding.   Trees and other plants clean the air we breathe and help us tackle the global challenge of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide. Coral reefs and mangrove forests act as natural defences protecting coastlines from waves and storms. Many of the medicines that we use in our daily lives originate from plants.   18 Dec. 2023 (WWF Global)   With the world this week marking the one-year anniversary of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, WWF expresses its deep concern that the overall pace and scale of action on nature is failing to match the promise of the historic agreement.   Adopted on 19 December 2022 at the COP15 UN biodiversity conference in Montreal, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) commits the world to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by the end of the decade. Described by some as nature’s equivalent of the ‘Paris Agreement’, the GBF aims to combat the world’s accelerating nature crisis, which has seen a 69% average decline in global wildlife populations since 1970.   Some progress in the past year includes a number of countries, including Japan and Luxembourg, as well as the EU, submitting revised national biodiversity strategies (NBSAPs), and the operationalization of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund in September.   The agreement to establish a new fund to support the biodiversity conservation efforts of developing countries was one of the key moments at COP15 that enabled countries to find a common way forward to secure the GBF, with its 23 global action-oriented targets to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030.   However, overall progress has been insufficient, with the vast majority of countries yet to submit their revised NBSAPs, low ambition, and a lack of clear and funded implementation plans.   WWF notes with particular concern the low level of new biodiversity funding announced in the past twelve months. At COP15, developed countries pledged to increase international biodiversity finance to at least $20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least $30 billion per year by 2030.   The one-year anniversary of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework comes days after the conclusion of the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, which alongside the agreement from countries to transition away from fossil fuels, saw greater recognition of the need to tackle our climate and nature crises as one.   Li Lin, Senior Director of Global Policy and Advocacy at WWF International, said:   “While we have seen some progress since the adoption last December of the Global Biodiversity Framework, in truth it is piecemeal and woefully inadequate to the challenge at hand, with only 6 years left to deliver. Human activities have swung a wrecking ball at the natural ecosystems that sustain us and it’s time that countries get out of first gear on nature.   Leaders need to stand up and deliver on the historic commitment they made last year to safeguard nature, in support of climate action and delivering sustainable and inclusive development for all. There is no time to waste. Now is the moment we truly need to see the pedal hitting the metal.   “In the coming months, it is vital that countries fulfill the promise of Montreal by announcing sufficiently ambitious national biodiversity strategies and by delivering action on the ground. We also need to see rich countries stepping up the finance to support the efforts of developing countries, the home to much of our planet’s incredible biodiversity.   “WWF welcomes the news that Colombia will host the COP16 biodiversity talks. It has shown leadership on nature on the international stage, together with action at home. We are optimistic that Colombia, together with China, which led the COP15 talks, can galvanize all countries and accelerate global momentum on nature to ensure we arrive at COP16 in the best possible position to ensure that the Global Biodiversity Framework delivers a turning point in our relationship with the natural world.”   Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Climate and Energy Lead at WWF International and CBD Action Agenda Champion for Nature and People, said:   “Let me be clear: if we fail on nature, we fail on climate - with disastrous consequences for people and wildlife. One year on from the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, we are yet to see leaders truly step up on nature. The few revised national biodiversity strategies that have been announced are not sufficiently ambitious to reverse biodiversity loss and action on the ground remains sparse. We needed to see finance reaching the communities on the frontline of the nature crisis yesterday.   “I urge leaders to urgently deliver on their biodiversity commitments, and for rich nations to deliver the promised financial support to developing nations. Nature remains our greatest ally in tackling the climate crisis. There is no pathway to limiting global warming to 1.5C without it. This is why it is essential that countries must increase protections for nature and work to rapidly integrate their national climate and nature plans.”   Biodiversity loss has been identified as one of the greatest threats facing humanity. Alongside undermining nature’s ability to sequester carbon and protect us from the worse impacts of the climate crisis, the loss and degradation of ecosystems increases our vulnerability to pandemics and threatens food security and livelihoods. More than half of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature".   http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?10450466/GBF-one-year-anniversary http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/species-at-risk-extinction-doubles-to-2-million-aoe http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293083 http://unu.edu/ehs/series/understanding-humanitys-role-biodiversity-loss-5-elements-accelerating-species http://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/biodiversity-and-forest-defenders-the-stakes-of-cop16/ http://www.cbd.int/article/opinion/david-cooper-idb-celebration-nairobi http://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/new-satellite-platform-monitors-deforestation-across-ecosystems-worldwide/   20 Dec. 2022   COP15 ends with new biodiversity agreement. (UNEP)   The United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) ended in Montreal, Canada, on 19 December 2022 with an agreement intended to guide global action on nature through to 2030. Representatives from 188 governments have been gathered in Montreal for the past two weeks for the important summit.   Chaired by China and hosted by Canada, COP 15 resulted in the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) on the last day of negotiations. The GBF aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights. The plan includes measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. It also contains proposals to increase finance to developing countries – a major sticking point during talks.   The stakes could not be higher: the planet is experiencing a dangerous decline in nature as a result of human activity. It is experiencing its largest loss of life since the dinosaurs. One million plant and animal species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades.   The Global Biodiversity Framework   The GBF consists of four overarching global goals to protect nature, including: halting human-induced extinction of threatened species and reducing the rate of extinction of all species tenfold by 2050; sustainable use and management of biodiversity to ensure that nature’s contributions to people are valued, maintained and enhanced; fair sharing of the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources, and digital sequence information on genetic resources; and that adequate means of implementing the GBF be accessible to all Parties, particularly Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.   United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director, Inger Andersen, emphasized that implementation is now key: “The adoption of the Global Biodiversity Framework and the associated package of targets, goals and financing represents but a first step in resetting our relationship with the natural world. Success will be measured by our rapid and consistent progress in implementing, what we have agreed to”.   “For far too long humanity has paved over, fragmented, over-extracted and destroyed the natural world on which we all depend. Now is our chance to shore up and strengthen the web of life, so it can sustain our future. Actions that we take for nature are actions to reduce poverty; they are actions to achieve the sustainable development goals; they are actions to improve human health”.   The GBF also features 23 targets to achieve by 2030, including:   Effective conservation and management of at least 30 per cent of the world’s land, coastal areas and oceans. Currently, 17 percent of land and 8 per cent of marine areas are under protection. Restoration of 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance and high ecological integrity. Halving global food waste.   Phasing out or reforming subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. Mobilizing at least $200 billion per year from public and private sources for biodiversity-related funding. Raising international financial flows from developed to developing countries to at least US$ 30 billion per year.   Requiring transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose risks and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, portfolios, supply and value chains.   Finance at the core   Finance played a key role at COP15, with discussions centring on how much money developed countries will send to developing countries to address biodiversity loss. It was requested that the Global Environment Facility set up a Special Trust Fund – the GBF Fund – to support the implementation of the GBF, in order to ensure an adequate, predictable and timely flow of funds.   Countries also approved a series of related agreements to implement the GBF, including on planning, monitoring, reporting and review, which are all vital to ensure progress is made – in the words of the GBF, to ensure that there is not “a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years.”   http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/landmark-un-report-worlds-migratory-species-animals-are-decline-and http://tinyurl.com/yw7e669z http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/statements/adoption-kunming-montreal-global-biodiversity-framework-gbf http://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022 http://www.carbonbrief.org/cop15-key-outcomes-agreed-at-the-un-biodiversity-conference-in-montreal/ http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-global-biodiversity-agreement-reached-at-un-biodiversity-conference-cop15/ http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?7344441/Global-deal-to-reverse-nature-loss-by-2030-agreed-but-immediate-action-and-funds-needed-to-deliver http://www.clientearth.org/latest/press-office/press/cop15-final-agreement-shies-away-from-real-change-to-global-economy-to-save-biodiversity-clientearth/ http://updates.panda.org/global-deal-to-reverse-nature-loss-by-2030-agreed   http://www.foei.org/new-global-biodiversity-framework-not-fit-for-purpose/ http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2022-12-20-biodiversity-offsets-create-dangerous-incentives.html http://lens.civicus.org/global-biodiversity-framework-from-words-to-action/ http://www.iucn.org/iucn-statement/202212/iucn-welcomes-post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework-important-step-towards http://iifb-indigenous.org/2022/12/19/indigenous-peoples-and-local-communities-celebrate-cop15-deal-on-nature-and-welcome-the-opportunity-of-working-together-with-states-to-implement-the-framework/ http://www.escr-net.org/news/2023/collective-advocacy-biodiversity-and-land-rights-cop-15-outcomes http://minorityrights.org/2022/12/20/cop15/   http://theconversation.com/biodiversity-one-way-to-help-countries-stick-to-their-commitments-to-restore-nature-168000 http://www.newscientist.com/article/2352273-countries-agree-landmark-deal-to-halt-global-decline-in-nature-by-2030/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2022/12/global-biodiversity-framework-good-compromise/ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/24/ecosystem-collapse-wildlife-losses-permian-triassic-mass-extinction-study http://www.theguardian.com/environment/cop15 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-cop15-agreement-nations-must-do-more-for-nature   IPBES Invasive Alien Species Assessment   Invasive Alien Species pose major global threats to Nature, Economies, Food Security and Human Health reveals a new IPBES report, playing a key role in 60% of Global Plant & Animal Extinctions. The annual costs estimated at $423 Billion having quadrupled every decade since 1970. The report provides evidence, tools & options to help Governments achieve an ambitious new global goal on Invasive Alien Species:   http://www.ipbes.net/IASmediarelease   Dec. 2022   The UN’s key biodiversity conference, COP15, began on December 6th in Montreal, Canada, where negotiators will set new targets and goals aimed at arresting the alarming destruction of nature, due by human activity. The conference is expected to lead to the adoption of a new Global Biodiversity Framework, guiding actions worldwide through 2030, to preserve and protect our natural resources.   UN Secretary-General António Guterres's opening remarks at the UN Biodiversity Conference — COP15:   “We are waging a war on nature. Ecosystems have become playthings of profit. Human activities are laying waste to once-thriving forests, jungles, farmland, oceans, rivers, seas and lakes. Our land, water and air are poisoned by chemicals and pesticides, and choked with plastics. The addiction to fossil fuels has thrown our climate into chaos. Unsustainable production and monstrous consumption habits are degrading our world. Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction, with a million species at risk of disappearing forever.   All of this destruction comes at a huge price. Lost jobs, economic devastation, rising hunger, higher costs for food, water and energy, diseases, and a degraded planet.That was the central message I wanted to give to this Conference. Humanity’s war on nature is ultimately a war on ourselves.   Nature is humanity’s best friend. Without nature, we have nothing. Without nature, we are nothing. Nature is our life-support system. It is the source and sustainer of the air we breathe, the food we eat, the energy we use, the jobs and economic activity we count on, the species that enrich human life, and the landscapes and waterscapes we call home.   And yet humanity seems hellbent on destruction. We are waging war on nature. This Conference is about the urgent task of making peace. Because today, we are out of harmony with nature. In fact, we are playing an entirely different song. Around the world, for hundreds of years, we have conducted a cacophony of chaos, played with instruments of destruction.   Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems. Our land, water and air are poisoned by chemicals and pesticides, and choked with plastics. Our addiction to fossil fuels has thrown our climate into chaos — from heatwaves and forest fires, to communities parched by heat and drought, or inundated and destroyed by terrifying floods.   Unsustainable production and consumption are sending emissions skyrocketing, and degrading our land, sea and air. Today, one-third of all land is degraded, making it harder to feed growing populations. Plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates —are all at risk. A million species teeter on the brink.   Ocean degradation is accelerating the destruction of life-sustaining coral reefs and other marine ecosystems — and directly affecting those communities that depend on the oceans for their livelihoods.   Multinational corporations are filling their bank accounts while emptying our world of its natural gifts. Ecosystems have become playthings of profit. With our bottomless appetite for unchecked and unequal economic growth, humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction. We are treating nature like a toilet.   And ultimately, we are committing suicide by proxy. Because the loss of nature and biodiversity comes with a steep human cost. A cost we measure in lost jobs, hunger, diseases and deaths. A cost we measure in the estimated US$3 trillion in annual losses by 2030 from ecosystem degradation. A cost we measure in higher prices for water, food and energy. And a cost we measure in the deeply unjust and incalculable losses to the poorest countries, Indigenous populations, women and young people. Those least responsible for this destruction are always the first to feel the impacts. But they are never the last.   This Conference is our chance to stop this orgy of destruction. To move from discord to harmony. And to apply the ambition and action the challenge demands. We need nothing less from this meeting than a bold post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.   One that beats back the biodiversity apocalypse by urgently tackling its drivers — land and sea-use change, over exploitation of species, climate change, pollution and invasive non-native species.   One that addresses the root causes of this destruction — harmful subsidies, misdirected investment, unsustainable food systems, and wider patterns of consumption and production.   One that supports other global agreements aiming at protecting our planet — from the Paris Agreement on climate, to agreements on land degradation, forests, oceans, chemicals and pollution that can bring us closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. And one with clear targets, benchmarks and accountability. No excuses. No delays. Promises made must be promises kept. It’s time to forge a peace pact with nature. This requires three concrete actions.   First — Governments must develop bold national action plans across all ministries, from finance and food, to energy and infrastructure. Plans that re-purpose subsidies and tax breaks away from nature-destroying activities towards green solutions like renewable energy, plastic reduction, nature-friendly food production and sustainable resource extraction.   Plans that recognize and protect the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, who have always been the most effective guardians of biodiversity. And National Biodiversity Finance Plans to help close the finance gap.   Second — The private sector must recognize that profit and protection must go hand-in-hand. In our globalized economies, businesses and investors count on nature’s gifts from all corners of the world. It’s in their best interests to put protection first.   That means the food and agricultural industry moving towards sustainable production and natural means of pollination, pest control and fertilization. It means the timber, chemicals, building and construction industries taking their impacts on nature into account in their business plans. It means the biotech, pharmaceutical and other industries that use biodiversity sharing the benefits fairly and equitably.   It means tough regulatory frameworks and disclosure measures that end greenwashing, and hold the private sector accountable for their actions across every link of their supply chains. And it means challenging the relentless concentration of wealth and power by few that is working against nature and the real interests of the majority. Businesses and investors must be allies of nature, not enemies.   And third — developed countries must provide bold financial support for the countries of the Global South as custodians of our world’s natural wealth. We cannot expect developing countries to shoulder the burden alone.   We need a mechanism that can ensure developing countries have more direct, simpler, and faster access to much-needed financing. We know all too well the bureaucratic hurdles that exist today. International financial institutions and multilateral development banks must align their portfolios with the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.   And as a global community, we need to stand with all countries as they protect and restore their ecosystems following decades and centuries of degradation and loss. These natural environments have given us so much. It’s time to give back.   The most important lesson we impart to children is to take responsibility for their actions. What example are we setting when we ourselves are failing this basic test?   I am always deeply inspired by the young environmental activists around the world calling for change and action. But I am also keenly aware that we cannot pass the buck to them to clean up our mess. It is up to us to accept responsibility for the damage we have caused, and take action to fix it.   The deluded dreams of billionaires aside, there is no Planet B. We must fix the world we have.We must cherish this wonderous gift. We must make peace with nature. I urge you to do the right thing. Step up for nature. Step up for biodiversity. Step up for humanity. Together, let’s adopt and deliver an ambitious framework — a peace pact with nature — and pass on a better, greener, bluer and more sustainable world to our children”.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131422 http://bit.ly/3iLIC4c http://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/press-encounter/2022-12-07/un-secretary-generals-press-conference-cop15-biodiversity-conference-delivered   28 Nov. 2022 (WWF)   Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history.   “We are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate. We’ve lost half of the world’s warm water corals, and forests the size of roughly one football field vanish every two seconds. Wildlife populations have suffered a two-thirds decline globally in less than 50 years. The future of the natural world is on a knife’s edge”, says Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International.   “Nature holds the answers to many of the world’s most pressing challenges. Failure at COP15 is not an option. It would place us at increased risk from pandemics, exacerbate climate change making it impossible to limit global warming at 1.5C, and stunt economic growth – leaving the poorest people more vulnerable to food and water insecurity".   "To tackle the nature crisis, governments must agree on protecting more of the nature left on the planet while restoring as much as possible and transforming our productive sectors to work with nature, not against it. After many pledges and commitments it’s time for leaders to deliver for people and planet.”   WWF stresses the importance of countries agreeing to a goal of conserving at least 30% of the planet’s land, inland waters and oceans by 2030 through a rights-based approach that recognizes the leadership and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.   At the same time, action is needed to ensure the remaining 70% of the planet is sustainably managed and restored – and this means addressing the drivers of biodiversity loss, with the same level of urgency. Science is clear that global production and consumption rates are completely unsustainable and are causing serious damage to the natural systems people rely on for their livelihoods and wellbeing.   WWF believes a commitment to half the global footprint of production and consumption by 2030, while recognising huge inequalities between and within countries, is desperately needed in the framework to ensure that key sectors, such as agriculture and food, fisheries, forestry, extractives and infrastructure, are transformed to help deliver a nature-positive world.   Despite a growing number of national leaders committing to secure a global biodiversity agreement, key issues remain unresolved, including how to mobilize the necessary finance. Currently, the biodiversity finance gap is estimated to be US$700 billion annually. WWF is calling for countries to substantially increase finance, including international public finance with developing countries as the beneficiaries, and to align public and private financial flows with nature-positive practices, including through the elimination or repurposing of harmful subsidies and other incentives.   “Leaders must send the message loud and clear that the existential nature crisis must be addressed,” says Lin Li, Senior Director of Global Policy and Advocacy, WWF International. “In 2020, we saw the devastating results of the ten-year ‘Aichi Targets’ – the second consecutive decade in which the world failed to meet any global biodiversity targets. We cannot afford another lost decade for nature, which would be tantamount to dereliction of duty by governments and only cause more human suffering".   "Countries need to sign up to a clear blueprint to deliver the necessary finance - with developed countries supporting the conservation efforts of developing countries - and a strong implementation mechanism requiring countries to review progress against targets and increase action as required, is an essential mechanism to ensure real action is delivered on the ground".   WWF considers key elements of a global biodiversity framework to include:   A mission to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030; A goal to 30% of the planet’s land and water conserved by 2030 through a rights-based approach. A commitment to halve the world’s footprint of production and consumption by 2030.   A comprehensive resource mobilization strategy to finance implementation of the framework. A strong implementation mechanism which offers reviews and ratchets action over time, with agreed indicators to measure progress.   A rights-based approach, recognizing the leadership, rights, and knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities, and a whole of society approach, enabling participation of all sectors of society throughout the implementation of the framework. The inclusion of equitable and rights-based solutions alongside ecosystem-based approaches to deliver benefits for people and nature.   http://explore.panda.org/cop15-explained http://explore.panda.org/cop15#resources http://livingplanet.panda.org/ http://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment http://ipbes.net/events/ipbes-ipcc-co-sponsored-workshop-biodiversity-and-climate-change http://ipbes.net/media_release/Values_Assessment_Published http://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022 http://www.conservation.org/press-releases/2022/11/28/new-research-maps-the-nature-people-need-most http://www.cbd.int/information/statements.shtml http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04154-w http://www.unep.org/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15 http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/open-letters/open-letter-united-nations-high-commissioner-human-rights-post-2020-global http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework-urgent-need-protect-nature-and-human http://enb.iisd.org/un-biodiversity-conference-oewg5-cbd-cop15   http://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-who-wants-what-at-the-cop15-biodiversity-summit/ http://www.carbonbrief.org/video-what-needs-to-happen-to-make-the-cop15-global-biodiversity-framework-a-success/ http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2022-12-05-for-biodiversity-to-thrive-conservation-must-be-nature-and-people-positive.html http://www.campaignfornature.org/open-letter http://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/biodiversity/ http://www.iucn.org/press-release/202212/human-activity-devastating-marine-species-mammals-corals-iucn-red-list http://www.iucn.org/our-work/biodiversity   http://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/no-biodiversity-no-farmers-no-food-security http://www.ipsnews.net/2023/01/value-insects-must-act-now-protect/ http://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2023/02/groundbreaking-map-shows-toxic-forever-chemicals-more-330 http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-toxics-and-human-rights http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/biodiversity-and-health http://www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature http://info.cell.com/turning-the-tide-on-biodiversity-loss-1 http://geobon.org/post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework/ http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf9317 http://www.cbd.int/article/draft-1-global-biodiversity-framework http://www.learningfornature.org/en/   http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/05/making-sense-of-cop15-what-to-look-out-for-in-montreal http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/30/what-is-cop15-and-why-does-it-matter-for-all-life-on-earth-aoe http://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001fwh4 http://chinadialogue.net/en/nature/11873-explainer-cop15-the-biggest-biodiversity-conference-in-a-decade/ http://www.dw.com/en/what-is-biodiversity-and-why-is-it-so-important/a-63989839 http://oursharedseas.com/cop15-interview-odonnell/ http://www.americanprogress.org/article/nations-must-link-climate-and-nature-crises-or-risk-failing-to-address-both/ http://earthjustice.org/features/biodiversity-crisis http://www.stopecocide.earth/   http://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/57161/3-demands-were-making-for-biodiversity-at-cop15/ http://www.context.news/nature/opinion/the-cop15-biodiversity-treaty-needs-a-hero-now http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/12/biodiversity-plan-to-declare-30-of-the-world-protected-areas-by-2030-must-place-indigenous-peoples-rights-at-its-heart/ http://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/all-the-issues-impacting-indigenous-people-at-cop15-qa-with-joan-carling-and-ramiro-batzin/ http://influencemap.org/report/Industry-Associations-Biodiversity-Policy-19612   http://www.foei.org/publication/corporate-capture-nature-of-business-report/ http://www.foei.org/what-is-biodiversity-and-why-the-cop15-is-important/ http://www.cutcarbonnotforests.org/scientist-letter-read/ http://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/a-historic-moment-in-the-struggle-to-stop-deforestation-eu-agrees-anti-deforestation-law-putting-bloc-on-the-pathway-to-regulating-financial-sector/ http://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/calls-grow-companies-disclose-impacts-nature-bid-plug-finance-gap-2022-12-05/   http://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/news/what-is-cop15-the-convention-on-biological-diversity-and-why-it-matters/ http://earthjournalism.net/resources/what-is-cop15-the-importance-of-a-global-deal-for-nature http://earthjournalism.net/stories/biodiversity-expert-offers-a-prescription-for-our-sick-planet http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe http://news.mongabay.com/list/biodiversity-crisis/ http://theconversation.com/global/topics/biodiversity-486 Visit the related web page
	COP27: UN climate summit fails to act on cutting carbon emissions by UN News, IPCC, agencies   Dec. 2022   World still ‘on brink of climate catastrophe’ after Cop27 deal. (Guardian News, agencies)   The world still stands “on the brink of climate catastrophe” after the deal reached at the Cop27 UN climate summit, climate experts and campaigners have warned.   The agreement reached in Sharm el-Sheikh was hailed for providing poor countries for the first time with financial assistance known as loss and damage. A fund will be set up by rich governments for the rescue and rebuilding of vulnerable areas stricken by climate disaster, a key demand of developing nations for the last 30 years of climate talks. However, there is no agreement yet on how much money should be paid in, by whom, and on what basis.   The outcome of Cop27 was widely judged a failure on efforts to cut carbon dioxide, after oil-producing countries and high emitters weakened and removed key commitments on greenhouse gases and phasing out fossil fuels.   Mary Robinson, chair of the Elders Group of former world leaders, ex-president of Ireland and twice a UN climate envoy, said: “The world remains on the brink of climate catastrophe. Progress made on cutting emissions has been too slow. We are on the cusp of a clean energy world, but only if G20 leaders live up to their responsibilities, keep their word and strengthen their will. The onus is on them.”   Antonio Guterres, secretary general of the UN, warned: “Our planet is still in the emergency room. We need to drastically reduce emissions now – and this is an issue this Cop did not address. The world still needs a giant leap on climate ambition.”   Oil-producing countries had thwarted attempts to strengthen the deal, said Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, now chief executive of the European Climate Foundation. “The influence of the fossil fuel industry was found across the board,” she said. “This Cop has weakened requirements around countries making new and more ambitious commitments on cutting emissions. The text of the deal makes no mention of phasing out fossil fuels, and scant reference to the 1.5C target.”   She blamed the host country, Egypt, for allowing its regional alliances to sway the final decision, a claim denied by the hosts. Next year’s conference of the parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Cop) will take place in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s biggest oil exporters.   Tubiana warned: “The Egyptian presidency produced a text that clearly protects oil and gas petro-states and the fossil fuel industries. This trend cannot continue in the UAE next year.”   At the talks, nearly 200 countries agreed that a fund for loss and damage, which would pay out to rescue and rebuild the physical and social infrastructure of vulnerable countries ravaged by extreme weather events, should be set up within the next year.   However, there is no agreement yet on how much money should be paid in, by whom, and on what basis. A key aim for the EU at the talks was to ensure that countries classed as developing in 1992 when the UNFCCC was signed – and thus given no obligations to act on emissions or provide funds to help others – are considered potential donors. These could include China, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, and Russia. Under the final agreement, such countries can contribute on a voluntary basis.   China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, as well as the world’s second biggest economy, and comes second only to the US in cumulative historical emissions since the industrial revolution.   Several key climate commitments championed by the UK, which hosted last year’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, were dropped from the final deal, at the behest mainly of Saudi Arabia and other petro-states, though the Guardian understands that China, Russia and Brazil also played a role in weakening some aspects.   These included a target for global emissions to peak by 2025, in line with the goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold of safety that was the focus of the Glasgow Climate Pact signed last year at Cop26.   Although the final text did include the commitment to limiting temperature rises to 1.5C, the language was regarded as weak and marking no progress on the outcome of Cop26 a year ago.   Alok Sharma, the UK’s Cop26 president was visibly angry at the close of the conference. “Those of us who came to Egypt to keep 1.5C alive, and to respect what every single one of us agreed to in Glasgow, have had to fight relentlessly to hold the line. We have had to battle to build on one of the key achievements of Glasgow, the call on parties to revisit and strengthen their national plans on emissions.”   In Glasgow, in the final moments a commitment to phase out coal was watered down by China and India to a phase down of coal. At Cop27, he joined with efforts to include a phase down of all fossil fuels in the text, but it was reduced in the final stages to a simple repetition of the Glasgow commitment to phase down coal.   Sharma listed commitments weakened or lost: “We joined with many parties to propose a number of measures that would have contributed to this. Emissions peaking before 2025, as the science tells us is necessary. Not in this text. Clear follow-through on the phase down of coal. Not in this text. A commitment to phase out all fossil fuels. Not in this text. And the energy text, weakened in the final minutes [to endorse “low-emissions energy”, which can be interpreted as a reference to gas].”   Meena Raman an adviser to developing countries, from the Third World Network said: “Since the EU and Alok Sharma are disappointed that fossil fuel phase-out is not in the text, we would like them to take leadership and revise their NDCs [nationally determined contributions] and put into plans their fossil fuel phase-out urgently and stop expansion of fossil fuels including oil and gas. If they really want to save the planet and not hide behind 2050 net zero targets, which will bust the remaining carbon budget for 1.5C.”   Small island nations facing a climate-driven rise welcomed the loss and damage deal but regretted the lack of ambition on curbing emissions. "I recognise the progress we made in COP27" in terms of establishing the fund, the Maldives climate minister, Aminath Shauna, said, but added "we have failed on mitigation ... We have to ensure that we increase ambition to peak emissions by 2025. We have to phase out fossil fuels."   The final COP27 statement maintains the commitment to limit global heating warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. But instead of calling for a phase out of all polluting fossil fuels, the deal only reiterates language from last year's pact in Glasgow calling for a "phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies."   Even if all the pledges made so far are delivered, th world is still on track for an average rise of at least 2.7C this century, a recent UN report states. It would cause widespread drought, water scarcity, hunger and widespread coastal flooding.   UN chief Antonio Guterres described the creation of a loss and damage fund for developing countries as an important step for climate justice.   “But let’s be clear. Our planet is still in the emergency room. We need to drastically reduce emissions now – and this is an issue this COP did not address. A fund for loss and damage is essential – but it’s not an answer if the climate crisis washes a small island state off the map – or turns an entire African country to desert. The world still needs a giant leap on climate ambition. The red line we must not cross is the line that takes our planet over the 1.5C degree temperature limit”.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130832 http://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/241654/cop27-imperial-experts-reflect-progress-failures/ http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/cop27-world-climate-summit-201cresults-are-not-good-enough201d http://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2022-was-year-climate-extremes-record-high-temperatures-and-rising-concentrations http://chinadialogue.net/en/climate/loss-and-damage-fund-the-lone-success-of-cop27/ http://www.iied.org/cop-decision-loss-damage-two-steps-forward-one-step-back http://www.openglobalrights.org/COP27-ayisha-siddiqa-sustainability-my-people-are-dying/   http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/loss-and-damage-fund-cop27-monumental-win-if-properly-funded-oxfam http://climatenetwork.org/2022/11/20/landmark-decision-at-cop27-to-set-up-loss-and-damage-fund/ http://www.lossanddamagecollaboration.org/pages/facing-undeniable-calls-for-climate-justice-progress-on-loss-and-damage-at-cop27 http://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/11/22/scientists-warn-data-gaps-should-not-block-africans-from-loss-and-damage-funds/ http://interactive.carbonbrief.org/timeline-the-struggle-over-loss-and-damage-in-un-climate-talks/ http://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-which-countries-are-historically-responsible-for-climate-change/   http://theelders.org/news/elders-welcome-historic-breakthrough-loss-and-damage-cop27-call-g20-leaders-phase-out-fossil http://www.unicef.org/rosa/press-releases/statement-paloma-escudero-unicef-head-delegation-closing-cop27 http://www.concern.net/press-releases/concern-welcomes-landmark-decision-climate-loss-and-damage-fund-worlds-poorest http://www.wri.org/news/statement-breakthrough-cop27-establishes-fund-aid-vulnerable-countries-facing-severe-climate http://www.ciel.org/news/cop27-reaction/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/11/cop27-loss-and-damage-fund-is-welcome-but-failure-to-deliver-on-phasing-out-fossil-fuels-is-a-huge-setback/   http://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/news/what-happened-at-cop27/ http://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/56955/a-step-towards-climate-justice/ http://fossilfueltreaty.org/cop-27 http://www.foei.org/cop27-outcome/ http://www.ciel.org/news/real-zero-europe/ http://actalliance.org/act-news/cop27-concludes-with-a-big-breakthrough-for-the-most-vulnerable/ http://lens.civicus.org/cop27-too-little-too-late/   COP 27: A Global COP-Out, by Robert Sandford.   Last year’s climate COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland, was billed as the most important conference in the history of humanity. But it failed to deliver. If anything, that failure added urgency for global climate action at COP 27 in Egypt last month.   Now that it this year’s COP is over, it is useful to reflect on a few excerpts from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s opening day remarks:   • “These climate conferences remind us that the answer is in our hands and the clock is ticking.”   • “We are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing.”   • “Greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, global temperatures keep rising…and our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible.”   • “We are getting dangerously close to the point of no return. And to avoid that dire fate all countries must accelerate their transition now, in this decade.”   • “Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish.”   • “It is either a climate solidarity pact, or it is a collective suicide pact.”   Sadly, COP27’s outcomes make very clear that the world signed on to the one the global fossil fuel sector wanted: the suicide pact.   COP 27 did not deliver. In fact, it has been labelled by many as the worst COP ever.   What happened in Egypt puts a whole new spin on the term COP-out. But how could it have been otherwise?   COP 27 was held in a country aligned with surrounding petrostates ruled by a dictatorship and was sponsored by one of the world’s largest plastic polluters: Coca-Cola.   It did not seem to register with organizers that the company’s relentless bottled water production is widely held in the global water science and policy community as a triumph of marketing over common sense.   Did the organizers not see that Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of COP 27 was an open invitation to blatant global greenwashing?   The obvious should not be missed here: Capitalism is not out of control, capitalism is in control – and COP 27 offers clear proof of that truth.   As society’s reliance on petroleum grew and our energy demands expanded, the global fossil fuel cartel quietly evolved into a superpower unto itself. There were more than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists at COP 27. What, one might reasonably ask, could possibly go wrong? Lots, evidently.   The oil and gas lobby completely corrupted the COP process. The proceedings and outcomes of COP 27 make it clear that the fossil fuel sector now owns the COP agenda. The sole aim of their presence there was to prevent, not promote, progress on dealing with the global climate threat. And they succeeded.   None of the agreements negotiated in Egypt are binding. Like the national emissions reductions target put forward by UN Member States under the Paris Climate Accord, the commitments made at COP 27 are all merely aspirational.   There is no penalty for failing to achieve them. There have been 27 COPs since 1995 and still no formal binding agreement on cutting fossil fuel burning.   Except for a small blip during the pandemic, fossil fuel burning globally continues to rise, not fall.   As one participant pointed out, the aspirational scheme agreed upon in Sharm el Sheikh is a down payment on disaster. No one expects anyone to actually compensate developing countries that contribute little to the climate threat for the catastrophic impacts climate breakdown is now having on them.   With COP 28 scheduled to be held next year in the United Arab Emirates – one of the most notorious petrostates of them all – the only thing COP 27 accomplished was to expose what the COP summit process has become – a pointless travelling circus set up once a year out of which little but platitudes emerge.   The entire COP process is no longer fit for purpose. It is a bloated, corrupted process too moribund to come up with any measures effective enough, and binding enough, to bring about the changes we need to make to avoid climate catastrophe.   Voices calling for change get louder and louder. The COP process must be replaced with something more efficient that does its work largely hidden from the glare of the media.   It can no longer be allowed to be contaminated by corporate sponsorship. The process can no longer be allowed to be owned and corrupted by the global fossil fuel cartel and oil and gas sector lobbyists.   One suggested way of doing this is to establish an IPCC-like structure of smaller bodies, each addressing key issues, notably energy transition, restorative agriculture, transportation and issues related to damage and loss.   Each such body would be made up of representatives of majority-world countries empowered to negotiate legally binding agreements that are workable and achievable, whether it be halting and reversing deforestation, cutting carbon dioxide and methane emissions, drawing down coal use and addressing other threats to our future such as ocean acidification and deoxygenation.   These agreements can then be signed off by world leaders without the need for the hype, grandstanding and false hope now associated with COP process pronouncements.   We are witnessing a great bonfire of our heritage. Things are being lost that have not yet been found. We need to find them before they, and we, are gone.   * Robert Sandford holds the Global Water Futures Chair in Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, based at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada   http://inweh.unu.edu/opinion-cop-27-a-global-cop-out/   Dec. 2022   Rich nations can afford to pay their fair share to fix global crises, by Lidy Nacpil, Thuli Makama. (Thompson Reuters Foundation)   Will rich countries pay international climate reparations? Vanuatu first asked this question in 1991, and by 2013 the U.S. response was still a firm no. As State Department Climate Envoy Todd Stern put it, “The fiscal reality of the United States and other developed countries is not going to allow it.”   Throughout most of 2022, Stern’s successor John Kerry had a nearly identical response, saying, “there is not enough money in any country in the world to actually solve climate change. It takes trillions and no government that I know of is ready to put trillions into this." His counterparts in other wealthy governments held similar positions.   But the COP27 climate summit in November forced a change of script. Channelling frustration with the uneven impacts of the last few years of the pandemic, climate chaos and the energy crisis, Global South social movements made this the summit’s headline issue.   This helped cement unprecedented unity among the developing-country negotiating bloc and forced wealthy countries to agree to establish a ‘loss and damage’ fund to address escalating climate impacts. It was an important breakthrough in an otherwise disappointing summit, in which language on a just fossil-fuel phase out - notably the most critical measure to limit the amount of loss and damage - was excluded from the final text.   There is still a struggle ahead to ensure that rich nations fill this new fund with anything near their fair share of what is needed to respond to climate disasters. What is not in question is whether they can afford to.   Fossil fuel wealth   Wealthy governments control international financial systems and their domestic economies. We saw them make trillions of dollars in fiscal space available for bank bailouts in 2008 and for COVID-19 responses since 2020. And each year, they find trillions for militaries and fossil fuel subsidies. It is in this context that proposals to redistribute significant public funding to address overlapping global crises are gaining momentum.   The first is making fossil fuel companies pay. While many households were pushed into poverty this year, oil and gas companies made record profits and governments continued to subsidise them. Ending fossil fuel subsidies would raise at least $600 billion a year, and a 10% tax hike on oil and gas production about $400 billion in 2022. Along these lines, the EU and UK among others have introduced windfall taxes on oil and gas profits, and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and small island governments are calling for part of these to be levied toward the loss and damage fund.   There is also momentum to shift a particularly influential form of fossil subsidy - international public finance - towards renewable energy instead. At COP26, 39 countries and institutions promised to end their $28 billion a year in international finance for fossil fuels by the end of 2022. While Germany, Canada, the U.S. and Italy have yet to meet this pending deadline, a growing group of countries has.   Second, a small tax on extreme wealth would raise $2.5 trillion a year, and related proposals to crack down on tax dodging would significantly bolster this. Because the world’s richest 1% have caused 23% of greenhouse gas emissions growth since 1990, these measures are also needed to reach climate targets.   In a push that mirrored the loss and damage win, last week African countries secured a key step towards these reforms by passing a resolution for the U.N. to hold its own intergovernmental talks on tax rules rather than them remaining the sole domain of the OECD.   Calls to cancel Global South countries’ sovereign debts - incurred through our neo-colonial global financial system - predate the climate crisis but are intensifying with it. Campaigners brought these asks to COP27, pointing out that low-income countries are forced to pay wealthier countries the initial $100 billion a year they have been promised in climate finance many times over in debt service payments.   The economic volatility of the last few years has compounded debts in many countries, preventing public spending on basic needs, let alone climate action. In response, some governments and agencies are finally making serious debt proposals like cancelling $100 billion a year for the next decade.   Finally, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s popular Bridgetown Agenda to tackle debt and climate has components of many these proposals, as well as an ask for the International Monetary Fund to inject at least $650-billion worth of reserve assets into struggling economies annually through Special Drawing Rights.   Together, these modest proposals add up to well over $3.7 trillion a year. More ambitious versions, closer to the scale of the Global North’s ongoing and historical debts to the rest of the world, could free up even more. We have always had the money for a liveable future where no one must choose between heating and eating, or transport and shelter - what may finally be arriving is the political impetus for the governments most responsible for today’s global crises to pay up.   * Lidy Nacpil is coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) and Thuli Makama is Oil Change International’s Africa Director.   http://www.context.news/climate-justice/opinion/rich-nations-can-afford-to-pay-fair-share-to-fix-global-crises http://geopolitique.eu/en/articles/breaking-the-deadlock-on-climate-the-bridgetown-initiative/ http://www.sei.org/publications/finance-loss-damage-principles-modalities/ http://www.gi-escr.org/publications/white-paper-loss-and-damage-the-missing-piece-international-tax-cooperation-for-new-climate-finance http://wid.world/news-article/climate-inequality-report-2023-fair-taxes-for-a-sustainable-future-in-the-global-south/ http://mediacentre.christianaid.org.uk/new-report-top-10-climate-disasters-cost-the-world-billions-in-2022/ http://www.lossanddamagecollaboration.org/   15 Nov. 2022   COP27: Negotiations are missing the ambition needed to protect those hardest hit by climate change, warns IFRC.   The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is raising concern that progress is stalling at COP27 and that there is a risk that the ambition to deliver and build on commitments made in Glasgow climate summit is slipping away.   With just a few days left for leaders to take decisive action on climate change, commitments to make steep and immediate emission reductions to stay below the 1.5C warming limit—and thus limit further human suffering—are falling behind.   And while negotiators are grappling with issues designed to limit and respond to the rising human impacts of climate change, technical discussions on delivering new and additional finance for loss and damage, as well as adaptation, are progressing too slowly to meet the needs of people.   Instead, the IFRC calls on Parties to raise ambition and action on mitigation, adaptation and on loss and damage.   “Combating the climate crisis and its effects takes more ambitious action. World leaders cannot afford downgrading, but must raise their level of ambition to tackle the climate crisis, which is already dangerous for communities around the globe,” said Francesco Rocca, President of the IFRC.   “Communities—especially those most impacted by climate change—need promises that deliver with new and additional support to meet the scale of needs,” remarked Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General of the IFRC.   This is the critical decade for action. The world cannot afford to stall or backtrack on lifesaving commitments. There is no time to delay. Already at 1.1C warming, IFRC found that 86% of all disasters in the last decade are linked to climate and weather extremes, affecting 1.7 billion people. Communities are being repeatedly hit by extreme events - such as Kenya, which faced floods then locusts and now a drought triggering food insecurity and leading to malnutrition and death across the horn of Africa.   “We must invest in local action. Without it, we will still be saying the same things at COP28,” reiterated Dr. Asha Mohammed, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross.   If we are to ever meet the needs of communities suffering these multiple repeated and overlapping events, it is essential to invest in ambitious mitigation, to scale up locally led adaptation and address losses and damages. Parties must respond to the growing demands for finance to reach the local level, reaching communities at the scale needed. These requests must be heard and translated into meaningful action.   Recent IFRC research demonstrates that many countries and communities are getting left behind when it comes to investment in climate adaptation. Existing funding is not enough to meet current needs, let alone the increased humanitarian impacts of more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate events.   According to Maarten van Aalst, Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, COP27 needs to deliver on three fronts: tangible progress on mobilizing new and additional funding to address loss and damage; more finance for climate adaptation; and increased ambition to implement rapid emission reductions to keep hopes of limiting warming to 1.5C alive.   http://www.ifrc.org/press-release/cop27-negotiations-are-missing-ambition-needed-protect-those-hardest-hit-climate   Nov. 2022 (UN News, agencies)   The current combined National Determined Contributions (NDCs)—meaning the countries’ national efforts to tackle emissions and mitigate climate change—are leading our planet to at least 2.5 degrees warming, a level deemed catastrophic by scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).   In 2019, the IPCC indicated that to curb global warming, CO2 emissions needed to be cut by 43 per cent by 2030, compared to 2010 levels, but current climate plans show a 10.6 per cent increase instead.   Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change: “The science is clear and so are our climate goals under the Paris Agreement. We are still nowhere near the scale and pace of emission reductions required to put us on track toward a 1.5 degrees Celsius world”, said.   Mr. Stiell underscored that national governments need to strengthen their climate action plans now and implement them.   Last year, during the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, all countries agreed to revisit and strengthen their climate plans, however, only 24 out of 193 nations submitted updated plans to the UN.   “It’s disappointing. Government decisions and actions must reflect the level of urgency, the gravity of the threats we are facing, and the shortness of the time we have remaining to avoid the devastating consequences of runaway climate change”, highlighted the UN Climate Change chief.   UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres has warned of the dangers of climate breakdown. “Present policies on the climate will be absolutely catastrophic,” he said. “For the simple reason that we are approaching tipping points, and tipping points will make climate breakdown irreversible,” he said.   “That damage would not allow us to recover, and to contain temperature rises. And as we are approaching those tipping points, we need to increase the urgency, we need to increase the ambition".   Tipping points are thresholds within the climate system that lead to cascading impacts when tripped. They include the melting of permafrost, which releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that fuels further heating, and the point at which the drying Amazon rainforest switches from being an absorber to being a source of carbon, which scientists fear is fast approaching.   “We are getting close to tipping points that will create irreversible impacts, some of them difficult even to imagine,” he warned.   At last year’s summit in Glasgow, countries agreed to focus on limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, but recent UN reports have shown that current policies would raise temperatures by a least 2.5C.   Mr. Guterres says there is only a slim chance of holding to the target. “We still have a chance but we are rapidly losing it,” he said. “I’d say the 1.5C is in intensive care. So either we act immediately and in a very strong way, or it’s lost and probably lost for ever.”   “The only true path to energy security, stable power prices, prosperity and a liveable planet lies in abandoning polluting fossil fuels, especially coal, and accelerating the renewables-based energy transition”, he said.   Let me be blunt: most national climate pledges are simply not good enough. This is not just my view. Science and public opinion are giving timid climate policies a giant fail mark.   “We are witnessing a historic and dangerous disconnect - science and citizens are demanding ambitious and transformative climate action. Meanwhile, many governments are dragging their feet.   He said grave consequences would be the result, with nearly half the world’s population already in the “danger zone”.   And, at a time when we should all come together in the fight for our lives, senseless wars are tearing us apart”, he added. “The energy crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine has seen a perilous doubling down on fossil fuels by the major economies. The war has reinforced an abject lesson: our energy mix is broken.”   The paradox, he said, is that cheaper, fairer and more reliable energy options should have been developed sooner, and faster, including wind and solar.   “Had we invested massively in renewable energy in the past, we would not be so dramatically at the mercy of the instability of fossil fuel markets.”   Solar energy and batteries have fallen in price by 85 per cent, over the past decade, while wind power has become 55 per cent cheaper.   “On the other hand, oil and gas have reached record price levels. And investment in renewables creates three times more jobs than fossil fuels”, the Secretary-General underlined.   The climate crisis has reached a “really bleak moment”, one of the world’s leading climate scientists says, after a series of reports laid bare how close the planet is to catastrophe. Prof. Johan Rockstrom said the world was coming “very, very close to irreversible changes … time is really running out very, very fast”.   Key UN agencies have produced damning reports in the last few days. The UN environment agency’s report found there was “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place” and that “woefully inadequate” progress on cutting carbon emissions means the only way to limit the worst impacts of the climate crisis is a “rapid transformation of societies”.   Current pledges for action by 2030, even if delivered in full, would mean a rise in global heating of at least 2.5C, a level that would condemn the world to catastrophic climate breakdown, according to the UN’s climate agency. Only a handful of countries have ramped up their plans in the last year, despite having promised to do so at the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow last November.   The UN’s meteorological agency reported that all the main heating gases hit record highs in 2021.   Prof. Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said: “It’s a really bleak moment, not only because the reports showing that emissions are still rising, so we’re not delivering on either the Paris or Glasgow climate agreements, but we also have so much scientific evidence that we are very, very close to irreversible changes – we’re coming closer to tipping points.”   Research by Rockström and colleagues, found five dangerous climate tipping points may already have been passed due to the global heating caused by humanity to date, including the collapse of Greenland’s ice cap, with another five possible with 1.5C of heating.   “Furthermore, the world is unfortunately in a geopolitically unstable state,” said Rockstrom. “So when we need collective action at the global level, probably more than ever since the second world war, to keep the planet stable, we have an all-time low in terms of our ability to collectively act together.”   “Time is really running out very, very fast,” he said. “I must say, in my professional life as a climate scientist, this is a low point. The window for 1.5C is shutting as I speak, so it’s really tough.”   UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Wednesday that climate action was “falling pitifully short”. “We are headed for a global catastrophe and for economy-destroying levels of global heating.” He added: “Droughts, floods, storms and wildfires are devastating lives and livelihoods across the globe and getting worse by the day. We need climate action on all fronts and we need it now.”   Climate experts agree that every action that limits global heating reduces the suffering endured by people from climate impacts.   Rockstrom said: “Despite the fact that the situation is depressing and very challenging, I would strongly advise everyone to act in business or policy or society or science. The deeper we fall into the dark abyss of risk, the more we have to make efforts to climb out of that hole. 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