A major UN biodiversity summit has been delayed for a third time by the coronavirus pandemic, leading the Worldwide Fund for Nature to say "momentum to protect nature is at risk of stalling".
Cop15 was scheduled to be held in the Chinese city of Kunming in October, but its postponement was announced by the country's environment ministry on Wednesday.
Under new arrangements, the summit will be divided into two programmes: an online assembly in place of the physical gathering in October, followed by an in-person meeting in Kunming from April 25 to May 8 next year. It will be at this later summit that global biodiversity targets for the rest of the decade will be negotiated.
WWF head of policy and research Guido Broekhoven acknowledged the legitimacy of China's reasons for deferring the event but voiced concerns over the consequences, particularly over perceived shortcomings in the first draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
"WWF expresses concern that the momentum to protect nature is at risk of stalling," he said.
"It is now more vital than ever that world leaders and [political] parties show that they are serious about tackling nature loss by taking action domestically and by championing an ambitious and transformative global biodiversity agreement at the coming conference in October,"
“Nature loss has not paused. It is essential that the extra time is used well."
His concerns were echoed by the UK's Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment, Zac Goldsmith.
The reason why the COP15 has to be postponed is a pandemic which was caused - like previous pandemics - by our abuse of the natural world
Enric Salal,
National Geographic's Explorer in Residence
"We need to tackle the biodiversity crisis head on, and this delay will not mean taking our foot off the pedal," he said.
"As president of the recent G7, we are encouraged to see major progress on finance for nature, on cleaning up global supply chains, on efforts to tackle deforestation and with the global commitment to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
"We will continue to press countries to join us in ramping up efforts to protect and restore nature.”
Enric Sala, the National Geographic's explorer in residence, linked the delay of the summit to the very issue it is designed to address.
"The reason why the Cop15 has to be postponed is a pandemic which was caused - like previous pandemics - by our abuse of the natural world," he said.
"The loss of nature affects everyone on our planet, hence the importance of having everyone at the table.
"But despite the pause, the science is clear: if we are to prevent the collapse of our life support system, we need countries to begin to act now to preserve the wild nature left on our planet, and restore much of our degraded lands and ocean."
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Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
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Results
- Brock Lesnar retained the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns
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Brief scores:
Southampton 2
Armstrong 13', Soares 20'
Manchester United 2
Lukaku 33', Herrera 39'
Company%20profile
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
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Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
