Why do conservation programs fail?

The Convention on Biological Diversity is a significant agreement when almost all countries are parties to it, but the convention binds countries only when the agreements in it overlap with the international legal system. States tend to implement agreements only when they overlap laws and unfortunately the overlap is lacking

Conservation. Illustration: depositphotos.com
Conservation. Illustration: depositphotos.com

בנייר עמדה של ״האמנה למגוון הביולוגי״ של האו"ם  Convention on Biological Diversity שהתפרסם, מוצגת תכנית פעולה לעשור הבא לצורך שמירה על המגוון הביולוגי.

It's no secret that the world's wildlife is in dire straits: the heat wave in the northwest Pacific Ocean killed more than a billion sea creatures, the fires in Australia killed about three billion animals according to a conservative estimate, and about a million species are facing extinction.

Despite the alarming numbers, there is no real global commitment to act to prevent the loss of a variety of species. The new position paper is designed to spur action on a global scale so that by 2050 a situation will be implemented in which "we live in perfect harmony with the natural environment".

However, in order to implement the plan in its current form, and to ensure and preserve the wonders of the world's nature, there is a need for legal commitments from countries, a situation that does not exist and therefore there is a danger of failure.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is a significant agreement when almost all countries are parties to it, but the convention binds countries only when the agreements in it overlap with the international legal system. States tend to implement agreements when they overlap laws and unfortunately the overlap is lacking.

The experience in the last decade in which a project called "Aichi Targets" was supposed to take place. According to the project, the countries were supposed to halve the loss of habitat and stop the extinction. The venture failed.

In the new position paper, the extinction that was the main point in the "Ichi target" has given way to pollution in its forms, including plastic.

There are those who compare the new position paper to the Paris Agreement, which was designed to mitigate global warming, but the comparison is wrong since the Paris Agreement came as a continuation of a legal commitment in the Kyoto Protocol. Also in the Paris Agreement there were obligations to provide emissions with mandatory annual reporting. Failure to comply with the obligation constitutes a violation of international law, while in the Convention on Biological Diversity there are indeed discussions on a legal obligation, but at this stage there is no set date and therefore the obligation has no value.

In order to implement the agreement and the plan in the position paper, in addition to the agreements, a series of actions are needed:
- Measures that will prevent harm to animals for economic, social and traditional reasons
- Implementation of the plan to minimize threats to diversity such as collecting and trading animals, preserving habitats and preventing pollution
 - It is necessary to conjure the attitude according to it in order to do good to people
- Constant economic growth. The presented goals cannot be realized without addressing the economic reasons that cause threats such as: materialism, wasteful production and unnecessary consumption.
– התייחסות ל ״מידע ילידי״  Indigenous peoples’ knowledge. מתוך נקודת מבט מדעית שתביא את קול הילידים לצורך שימור ופיתוח בר-קיימא של אזורים בהם הם חיים, למרות מגוון רחב של הוכחות שמראה את היתרון הסביבתי של ״ניהול קרקע״ ע"י ילידים  לא תמיד מתחשבים בכך והתוצאה היא פגיעה במערכות סביבתיות.

Because of the development of global transportation and the unprecedented way in which people and goods move, it is important to create a multi-system economic and social cooperation that will also integrate and link information systems to environmental systems. This is because an action on one side of the world may affect the entire environment (biodiversity impacts) over vast distances.

A significant part of what is written above is not emphasized in the draft of the plan. For example, the global demand for palm oil that causes deforestation is neither highlighted nor tangible to consumers. The lack of emphasis makes it difficult to stop the creation of equatorial forests.

בסוף אוגוסט יתקיים כנס וירטואלי שיעסוק בתכנית. כנס ממשי שהיה אמור להתקיים בסין ידחה ל-2022. עד אז יש זמן למשתתפים להגיב על התכנית, כך למשל ראוי להדק את הקשרים עם גופים כמו ״התכנית של האו"ם לפיתוח בר-קיימא״ (UN’s Sustainable Development Goals) שמזהה את תרומת המגוון הביולוגי למיזם. כך גם המיזם לביטחון תזונתי שמהדהד מ״מטרה 2 לפיתוח בר-קיימא״ ובה שאיפה ל״אפס רעב״ (Sustainable Development Goal 2).

The plan also changes the terminology and instead of writing "environmental services" they will write "Nature's Contribution to People" and thus gives a higher value to nature.

All is well and good except that without defined and binding goals, what will cause change this time? Another series of goals to save biodiversity that will not be implemented by 2030 constitutes an unacceptable scenario. What's more, some of the goals aimed at by the program constitute stepping on the spot without change. The path leading to general extinction can be changed. To this end, there is a need for urgent and immediate action directed and agreed upon by all that will cause a change of attitude and allow prosperity for both nature and people.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

Comments

  1. Plans fail because of human nature. Game theory.

    Man puts personal interest before public interest. Preliminaries grind short and long term. Prioritizing safe profit over risky profit.

    Hunting the moose and feeding the family is more important than an airy idea of ​​moose conservation in the country.
    Allowing tourists to come to the country and hunt animals, and on the way to support the poor population, the relatives of the inspector, the capitalists and the local elites is more important than ideas of preserving global diversity
    Permitting the destruction of natural areas for the establishment of real estate areas, which yield large and immediate material benefits, is more profitable on a personal and public level than preserving beaches, forests and habitats.
    Immediate income for a poor, hungry and corrupt country is more convincing than the importance of preserving nature for future generations

    The laws of the state are supposed to overcome these weaknesses of man as an individual and as a society. Doesn't work that well in practice.

  2. There is an editing error:
    where it says:
    - It is necessary to conjure the attitude according to it in order to do good to people
    - Constant economic growth. The presented goals will not be able to be realized …….
    Should be :
    - It is necessary to conjure the attitude according to it in order to do good to people
    There is a need for constant economic growth.
    - The presented goals will not be able to be realized ……..

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