Countries need to report nature protection prepares to the UN. What does that suggest?

storyp1> BOGOTA, Oct 19 (Reuters) Almost 200 nations deal with a due date to report their nature conservation prepares to the United Nations ahead of a twoweek U.N. nature top dubbed COP16, beginning on Monday in the Colombian city of Cali.

Here is what you require to understand:

WHY ARE NATIONS MAKING NATURE PLEDGES?

These pledges must set out how each nation plans to contribute to conference international nature targets agreed on at the last U.N. Biodiversity Summit, COP15, held in Montreal in 2022.

The arrangement, called the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Structure, established four general objectives for 2050 and a series of 23 more immediate tasks to satisfy by 2030, such as reserving 30% of the Earth for preservation and mobilizing $200 billion in nature funding.

EXACTLY WHAT IS A BIODIVERSITY PROMISE?

The targets are formally called National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, or NBSAPs.

In signing the 2022 pact, countries agreed to send nationwide pledges and plans by the start of COP16. The strategies are suggested to explain nation efforts towards meeting the Kunming-Montreal objectives and to assist them assess whether they are on track.

Unlike with nationwide environment promises that are updated every couple of years, there are currently no plans for countries to update their biodiversity plans beyond COP16.

WHAT DO NBSAPS APPEAR LIKE?

There is no set format for an NBSAP, which enables nations to choose where they want to focus their efforts. The absence of a standardized format could make the plans harder to compare.

For instance, the United Arab Emirates has actually submitted a tight, 22-page plan, while the plan from France spans almost 400 pages.

The individual strategies may set out just how much of the country's land or ocean area will be set aside for preservation.

Others will explore ways of restoring nature in land utilized for agricultural functions, or developing green areas in cities and towns.

Professionals fretted that, with many targets to deal with, some nations may deal only with those that are easiest to accomplish.

THESE SEEM LIKE CLIMATE PROMISES. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

NBSAPS are undoubtedly comparable to the Nationally Figured Out Contributions, or NDCs, in which countries report their emissions-cutting strategies and other environment modification efforts to the United Nations.

Those NDCs are suggested to determine development toward conference worldwide environment goals under the 2015 Paris Arrangement to limit global warming.

Determining progress towards reducing planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, however, is far much easier than examining the state of the world's communities, animals and plants. Countries are still choosing how best to determine development on the worldwide nature objectives.

A nation's 2 sets of pledges - the biodiversity NBSAP and environment NDC - might overlap given how nature helps to regulate the world's environment, and how global warming threatens to ravage communities and wildlife populations.

In fact, standards published along with the 2022 nature pact encourage nations to explore actions that serve both sets of goals.

WILL NATIONS SUBMIT NBSAPS ON TIME?

Days before the top, approximately 16% of nations had actually submitted NBSAPs.

The plans themselves require consultations with local and Indigenous populations, a lengthy effort that countries with fewer resources might struggle to finish on time.

To help other countries with the preparation effort, Colombia and Germany in 2022 released a 30 million euro ($32.65 million) effort called the NBSAP Accelerator Partnership, which now has at least 21 countries getting involved, consisting of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sri Lanka.

There is no charge for countries that fail to satisfy the deadline. Countries likewise have the alternative of submitting a report that lists only their nationwide targets but excludes any information of how the targets would be satisfied.

More than 90 of the 195 countries that accepted the International Biodiversity Framework have actually submitted those targets.

(source: Reuters)