Page 12 - aruba-today-20210112

A12 SCIENCE
Tuesday 12 January 2021

50 countries vow to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030

By SYLVIE CORBET pledged to better protect
Associated Press biodiversity by preserving
PARIS (AP) — At least 50 30% of American lands and
countries committed to waters by 2030.
protecting 30% of the plan- Monday’s talks sought to
et, including land and sea, prepare negotiations on
over the next decade to biodiversity targets at a
halt species extinction and U.N. conference on biodi-
address climate change is- versity in China in October,
sues, during a global sum- after it was postponed last
mit Monday aimed at pro- year due to the pandemic.
tecting the world’s biodi- The U.N.’s global climate
versity. summit, the COP26, has
About 30 leaders, govern- also been rescheduled for
ment officials and heads of November in the U.K.
international organizations A side conference on Mon-
participated in the One day focused on investment
Planet Summit, which was for Africa’s Great Green
being held by videoconfer- Wall project, which involves
ence because of the coro- gigantic efforts to stop the
navirus pandemic. Top U.S. Sahara Desert from spread-
officials were notably ab- ing further south.
sent, as were the leaders of Participants welcomed
Russia, India and Brazil. A grey seal and her pup on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, England, Sunday Jan. 10, 2021. the creation of a so-called
French President Emmanu- Associated Press accelerator, which is ex-
el Macron announced that pected to release $14.3 bil-
the High Ambition Coali- and marine ecosystems; economies, builds resil- ister Justin Trudeau. China, lion over the next five years
tion for Nature and People, promoting agroecology, ience and rescues biodi- represented by Vice Pre- to finance the program.
which was launched in a more sustainable way versity.” mier Han Zheng, agreed Launched in 2007, it aims
2019 by Costa Rica, France to grow food; increasing Guterres also stressed that that “collective efforts” are to plant an arc of trees run-
and Britain to set a target funding to protect biodi- according to the World needed. ning 7,000 kilometers (4,350
of protecting at least 30% versity; and identifying links Economic Forum, emerg- The event, organized by miles) across Africa — from
of the planet by 2030, has between deforestation ing business opportunities France, the United Nations Senegal along the Atlantic
now been joined by 50 and the health of humans across nature could create and the World Bank, took all the way to Djibouti on
countries. and animals. 191 million jobs by 2030. place without top U.S. of- the Gulf of Aden.
A 2019 U.N. report on bio- The summit also launched Other leaders at the sum- ficials, as President-elect Another initiative involves a
diversity showed that hu- a program called PREZODE mit were German Chan- Joe Biden, a strong propo- new coalition of Mediterra-
man activities are putting which Macron presented cellor Angela Merkel, British nent of climate issues, does nean countries working to
nature in more trouble now as an unprecedented in- Prime Minister Boris Johnson not take office until Jan. 20. better protect the sea from
than at any other time in ternational initiative to and Canadian Prime Min- During his campaign, Biden pollution and overfishing.q
human history, with extinc- prevent the emergence
tion looming for over 1 mil- of zoonotic diseases and Deal reached on project to protect
lion species of plants and pandemics, which is al-
“We know even more researchers and experts lakes from invasive fish
ready mobilizing over 400
animals.
clearly amid the crisis we across the world. The move
are going through that all comes as scientists suspect By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writ-
our vulnerabilities are in- that the coronavirus that er
terrelated,” Macron said. first infected people in Chi- TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Michi-
“Pressure on nature exert- na last year came from an gan, Illinois and a federal agency have
ed by human activities is animal source, probably agreed on funding the next phase of an
increasing inequalities and bats. initiative to keep Asian carp out of the
threatening our health and “Pandemic recovery is Great Lakes by strengthening defenses
our security.” our chance to change on a Chicago-area waterway, officials
“We can change the story course,” U.N. Secretary said Thursday. The two states and the
if we decide to do it,” he General Antonio Guterres U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will share
added. said. “With smart policies pre-construction engineering and de-
The one-day summit fo- and the right investments, sign costs for the $858 million project In this June 13, 2012, file photo, Asian carp,
cused on four major top- we can chart a path that at Brandon Road Lock and Dam near jolted by an electric current from a research
ics: protecting terrestrial brings health to all, revives Joliet, Illinois. The structure on the Des boat, jump from the Illinois River near Havana,

Ill.
Associated Press

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