Cabinet-level ministers from more than 90 nations are facing a major test of their commitment to protecting the planet under provisions of a biological diversity convention, during three days of high-level meetings.
As ministers arrived in Brazil on Sunday for the UN-sponsored environmental conference, activists said the gathering would indicate how serious governments are about environmental goals outlined in the Convention of Biological Diversity and about support for the Global Fund for the Environment.
"In a sense we are at a crossroads. If concrete measures don't emerge from this conference, the convention could lose its credibility," said Marcelo Furtado of the environmental group Greenpeace.
"If that happens pressing environmental issues could end up being dealt with at other forums like the World Trade Organization where economic considerations take greater priority," he said.
Organizers said 93 government ministers were expected to participate in the three days of high-level talks at the Eighth Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which began last Monday in Curitiba, 650km southwest of Rio, and runs until Friday.
The Convention on Biological Diversity arose from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where over a 100 world leaders recognized that the world's environment was in peril and pledged to take steps to protect it.
This year's conference is the eighth biannual conference, aimed at reviewing progress made toward goals set out at the Earth Summit.
"The [ministers'] meeting is strategically placed during the second week. That way the high level meetings can address the most controversial issues of the past week that have been ironed out by their delegations," said Brazil's Environment Minister Marina Silva, who is presiding over the conference.
"It's a key political moment when the leaders of the global agenda commit themselves to work toward the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity," Silva said.
The number of ministers attending this year's meeting is substantially higher than the 16 Cabinet-level officials who participated in the seventh conference in Malaysia, but it remained far from clear whether their presence would be enough to convert good intentions into action.
The outlook for the planet's biological diversity is not very good, according to the UN and environmentalists.
At the conference's opening, a UN report concluded that species were being lost at the fastest rate since the disappearance of dinosaurs -- or as much as 1,000 times faster than the natural rate of extinction.
Greenpeace released maps last week showing that less than 10 percent of the world's forests remained intact and environmentalists said that governments worldwide have failed to honor their commitments to the Global Fund for the Environment, another product of the Earth Summit, leaving the fund with only US$10 billion -- or US$67 billion less than promised.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in