The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds China, Canada and the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity for scheduling the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention in Montreal, December 5-17. 

Said Susan Lieberman, WCS Vice President of International Policy: “WCS will bring its global conservation, science and policy experience to this meeting to help ensure that a new post-2020 global biodiversity framework will protect our world’s biodiversity for wildlife, wild places, and people for generations to come. The CBD understands the importance of not letting the pandemic indefinitely put on hold any longer a new pact to protect the world’s biodiversity. With COP15 already postponed four times due to the pandemic, we applaud China, Canada, other Parties, and the Secretariat for moving forward and setting this new date and location.

“WCS is advocating that the new biodiversity framework includes but is not limited to: protecting and retaining the world’s high integrity ecosystems including forests and coral reefs; conserving and protecting up to 30 percent of our planet’s land, inland waters, and ocean by 2030; and eliminating uses of wildlife that are unsustainable, illegal, or risk the spillover of pathogens to people or animals. The global community will come together in Montreal in less than 6 months, to hopefully adopt a strong framework that will truly combat the interrelated biodiversity, climate, and pandemic crises.”