By Mary O’KEEFE and Jessy SHELTON

The 15^th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international meeting bringing together governments from around the world, according to the Government of Canada.

These government representatives will work to agree on a new set of goals over the next decade through the CBD post-2020 framework process. The framework sets out an ambitious plan to implement broad-based action to bring about a transformation in society’s relationship with biodiversity and to ensure that by 2050 the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled. COP15 will also look at the implementation of protocols of the CBD that deal with the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of nature and the safe transport, handling and labeling of Living Modified Organisms, according to UN Environment Programme.

The word “biodiversity” is a contraction of the words biological diversity, which means the variety of living things in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. “Living things” takes into account not just flora and fauna (plants and animals), but also other forms of life like fungi and bacteria.

Biodiversity supports healthy ecosystems and gives humans resources that are needed to continue to live, like medicine and food. Having a healthy ecosystem allows for crucial actions like pollination, nutrient cycling and control of agricultural pests.

The conference began on Dec. 7 and runs through Dec. 15 in Montreal, Canada. There are representatives from over 100 countries in attendance, all who have ratified the conference goals in the past. (The U.S. is not included since it did not ratify.) The convention is to safeguard plant and animal species and ensure natural resources are used in sustainable ways. It is also seeking fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from natural genetic material, like those used in medicine.

Included among those representatives from those countries will be representatives from the State of California, the only state in the U.S. that is participating in COP15. Because the U.S. has not ratified the agreement, and California is not an independent government, the representatives can only go as observers.

“California [first] came to the CBD in December 2020 and this was part of a coalition effort of non-profit organizations and elected officials from around California,” said Dr. Jennifer Norris, California Natural Resources Agency, at a press conference prior to COP15.

Rosalind Helfand, co-founder of the California Global Biodiversity Network, brought the conference about two and a half years ago to the attention of Assemblymember Laura Friedman. She continued to push her assemblymember to have the State of California involved with the conference, which led to California representatives attending this month’s event.

Friedman said that as more species become extinct in the world it is a little overwhelming to begin work on how to solve the issues surrounding biodiversity.

“When you hear about a fish going extinct you may say, ‘Well, I don’t really care about that fish’ but a bird [that] eats that fish cares,” she said. “And another animal that lives off that bird or seeds that are spread by that bird that are no longer going to germinate across the state. [These examples] show that every single one of these animals fit into a pattern of nature and that any extinction has huge ripple effects that ultimately hurt humans’ chances of surviving. [This can] lead to pandemic, and famine, and hunger. And lead, at the very basic level, to [a future] where our children, including my 9-year-old, will not inherit the richness of the Earth we all grew up with. Imagine a time when there are no elephants in the wild, no big cats roaming the hills of Los Angeles. That is something that we can see happening in our lifetime. But we can stop it.”

She added that COP15 and the action that takes place at the conference will give the world a chance to push back on destruction.

In the upcoming the weeks, CVW will be reporting on the progress of the COP15 and what each member of the coalition is bringing to the table and how they are working together.