Motion #02
This motion commits the Green Party to support the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in Montreal in December 2022. It instructs Policy Development Committee to make changes to the Wildlife & Habitats chapter and calls on the Party Leadership to demand action from Government to implement the agreed targets.
The Green Party welcomes the Global Biodiversity Framework [GBF] agreed at the Kunming- Montreal meeting [CoP15] of the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022, that sets targets to be achieved by 2030 to put the planet back on to the path of ecological health We recognise that at the core of the climate and ecological crisis is our broken economic model, which prioritises growth above all else, including the health of people and planet. We agree with the conclusions of the Government’s own report by Professor Partha Dasgupta that called for an ‘urgent and transformative change in how we think, act and measure economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity and the natural world’.
We support the GBF headline targets for 2030 to bring at least 30% of land and 30% of the oceans into effective conservation management, to secure the restoration of 30% of degraded ecosystems and to halt human triggered extinctions of known threatened species, known as the 30 by 30 target.
Conference therefore instructs Policy Development Committee to make the following policy changes to the Policies for a Sustainable Society chapter ‘Wildlife and Habitats’: WH003: Add at the end: ‘…which are in line with or more ambitious than the Global Biodiversity Framework.’ So that the clause reads: WH003: Green Party Policy for the Regeneration of Nature aims to achieve the following outcomes, which are in line with or more ambitious than the Global Biodiversity Framework: WH102: add at the end: ‘These targets will align with and be at least as ambitious as those set in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework, 2020 - 2030.’ So that the clause reads: WH102 The Commission for Nature will set and monitor the delivery of short, medium and long-term targets for the regeneration of nature, to be approved by Parliament and sit alongside environmental targets in the Environment Act 2021. These targets will align with and be at least as ambitious as those set in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Global Biodiversity Framework, 2020 - 2030. WH103; add after ‘the Rights of Nature Act - ‘and in accordance with the UK obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity,’ so that the clause reads: WH103 The Secretary of State for the Environment will be required by the Rights of Nature Act and in accordance with the UK obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, to produce and implement a strategy and corresponding budget to achieve the targets set by the Commission for Nature. This strategy will be informed by science and devised in collaboration with devolved governments, local authorities, other government departments, and major NGOs involved in nature conservation. In addition, Conference instructs the Party leadership, elected representatives and candidates to demand action at all levels of government to implement the targets of the GBF. In particular we demand that the UK Government and the devolved administrations: a. Implement independent scrutiny of all Bills to assess their impact on biodiversity and the natural environment. b. Require all Departments of State publish their own strategies to minimise their impact on the natural environment. c. Secure into UK law all the protections for the natural environment provided through EU legislation prior to the retiring of any relevant EU law. d. Reverse the cuts to the budget and staffing levels of the Environment Agency made since 2010 to enable the Agency to carry out its statutory responsibilities. e. Instruct Defra to set its priority as the effective protection of the natural environment and to commit to the development of Environmental Land Management Schemes in consultation with all stakeholders, including the local communities affected, that will support this priority. f. Commit to bringing all designated sites to good ecological health as part of our commitment to the global 30 by 30 target. g. Ensure that in all national and international biodiversity protection projects, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities are full partners in developing and implementing the entire post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, including the 30x30 target.