One Planet Summit 2021: a crucial year for the preservation of nature and the relaunch of green diplomacy

For the fourth edition, the summit initiated by the French president brought together heads of state, heads of international organizations, the economic sector and NGOs on Monday to debate a crucial subject on a global scale: the protection of nature.

Emmanuel Macron, presenting himself on the international scene as the « spearhead of the fight » for the protection of biodiversity, welcomes Monday at the Elysée a half-virtual, half-face-to-face summit on the subject of biodiversity, with the aim of relaunch green diplomacy put on hold by the Covid-19. The fourth edition of the “One Planet Summit” (OPS), organized in consultation with the United Nations and the World Bank without being a UN event, claims to “raise the level of ambition of the international community on the protection of nature. , while answering the new questions posed by the health crisis of the coronavirus.

Very partially face-to-face, mainly broadcast on the Internet, the « One Planet Summit » on biodiversity organized this Monday, January 11, 2021 at the Elysée Palace intends to launch a crucial year for the preservation of nature. International initiatives are awaited by the 11 stable partner countries, taking initiatives or making concrete commitments for “the preservation of ecosystems”.

About thirty personalities must intervene, mainly by video because of the health crisis. Among them, the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, the President of the World Bank, David Malpass, Prince Charles, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, or the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mohamed CHEIKH EL GHAZOUANI and Emmanuel Macron.

Everyone should present initiatives or make concrete commitments around the four themes of the conference: protection of terrestrial and marine ecosystems; promotion of agroecology; mobilization of funding; link between deforestation, preservation of species and human health.

Because, in the face of epidemics and global warming (the year 2020 has just been classified as the hottest tie ever recorded), « the preservation of biodiversity is somewhere our collective life insurance », Paris hopes to « bring together climate issues and the preservation of ecosystems, ”explains a source at the Elysée.

The OPS “One Planet Summit” therefore aims to “participate in the construction of mobilization” to succeed in this diplomatic sequence by “showing that it is possible to act for the preservation of the planet, of biodiversity, in a very concrete « .

On the biodiversity side, the congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the COP15, which aims to establish a global plan to protect and restore the ecosystems essential to humanity by 2050, had to be postponed. in autumn 2021. On the climate side, the COP26 scheduled for Glasgow (Scotland) has also been postponed for one year, to November 2021 if all goes well.

The summit wants to relaunch the « coalition of high ambition for nature », concerning the protection of ecosystems, to have France, Great Britain and Costa Rica as actors -, with the objective of integrating some fifty countries, each committing to place 30% of its territory in protected areas. Aiming to devote 30% of public climate finance to “nature-based solutions” (reforestation, until 2030).

One Planet will also be preceded by an investment forum dedicated to the African Union’s Great Green Wall program, which aims to combat desertification around the Sahara. Forum which aims to obtain commitments reaching a total of ten billion dollars (8.2 billion euros), the amount announced by the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mohamed CHEIKH EL GHAZOUANI, in his speech before the lunch.

In addition, the Alliance for the Preservation of Tropical Forests will announce that it is ready to operate. Monday’s summit should be an opportunity to see this initiative exceed 50 partner states. Another, more regional coalition will also emerge, that for « an exemplary Mediterranean sea in 2030 », when the basin is one of the most polluted on the planet. The Elysée is hoping for a concrete action plan on sustainable fishing, the fight against marine pollution and the sustainability of maritime transport. Only six states are starting today (France, Italy, Sapnia, Monaco, Tunisia, European Commission).

This Monday’s event will also be the occasion to launch the Coalition for the Convergence of Funding for Climate and Biodiversity, “link between biodiversity and health”, the One Planet must in particular launch a research alliance on “ prevention of the emergence of zoonoses ”(Prezode), aimed at bringing together various existing programs.

Emmanuel Macron is particularly interested in the action of economic and environmental interest groups (GIEE), which allow recognition by the State of the collective commitment of farmers in the modification or consolidation of their practices by targeting performance. economic, environmental and social, as announced at the end of the first part of the summet.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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