The EcoAction Committee of the Green Party of the United States held an online forum, Biodiversity and Rights of Nature, on Monday, February 13, 2023. The forum provided an overview of biodiversity and what future actions are needed. Presenters included Tierra Curry, Saving Life on Earth Campaign Director and Senior Scientist at Center for Biological Diversity; Natalia Greene, Global Coordinator and Co-founder of Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and, Frederic Guarino of the Green Party of Canada and is a member of the Biodiversity Commission of the French Greens.

World governments met last month in Montreal to set global standards on how countries can protect biodiversity. The U.S. however has not signed on to U.N. Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). COP15 CBD Montreal adopted a plan to protect at least 30% of nature on our planet by 2030. The rights of Indigenous peoples and their contributions to the conservation of biodiversity were recognized. Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth, including humans. Without a wide range of animals, plants and microorganisms, we cannot have the healthy ecosystems that we rely on which provide us with the air we breathe and the food we eat.

The “30 by 30” goal involves dedicating $200 billion in public and private funding for the protection of 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030. The plan intends to reduce pollution from all sources, requiring disclosure by businesses of their environmental impacts and also their dependence on biodiversity, to implement policy, laws and educational measures towards sustainable consumption choices and to oversee more sustainable industrial agriculture and fisheries processes. This is a non-binding agreement for global standards.

Tierra Curry focuses on building a movement to end extinction. She works nationally with individuals and groups in support of celebrating and protecting biodiversity. Prior to joining the Center in 2007 she worked as an amphibian field biologist, environmental educator and community organizer.

Natalia Greene has promoted the recognition of Rights for Nature in Ecuador’s Constitution and has worked on the environmental and indigenous aspects of the Yasuní-ITT Initiative to keep oil underground in the Amazon. She is Secretary of the International Tribunals for the Rights of Nature, and a consultant of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative. She is an expert of the UN Harmony with Nature initiative network since 2016. (See http://www.harmonywithnatureun.org and https://www.un.org/pga/74/event/harmony-with-nature)

Frederic Guarino (EELV French Greens and Green Party of Canada) is a member of the Biodiversity Commission of the French Greens. He co-organized a Global Green meeting of Green elected officials present at COP15 and an online green action zone which showcased biodiversity research and case studies, including reforestation and water access. He founded ClimateAction Works within the Peace Innovation Institute at The Hague and is a lecturer on climate and biodiversity action (System Dynamics Society, McGill Environment Society, University of British Columbia).