AA Edit | Biodiversity pact: A good start

Humans have moved up at least to the extent of wishing to do something concrete about the nature that they have been destroying for decades, and at great intensity in the industrial age. Nearly 200 nations signing a pact to try and undo the damage to biodiversity, by-product of the massive overall destruction wrought, is a sign that we are at last owning up to being the worst predators of natural resources.

Unlike the big meets on climate change where the world leaders congregate while rubbing shoulders with Hollywood and billionaire celebrities, the COP15 UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Montreal, Canada till last weekend, attracted mostly hardcore environmentalists, who know best what damage humans have caused, to talk with ministers saddled with driving multiple nations in at the negotiating table towards an agreement.

Science has counted the millions of species human beings have destroyed over the centuries and the damage to flora and fauna has also been well recorded too. Ecosystems like rainforests, wetlands, grasslands and oceans are equally precious and humanity is under grave threat of rapidly losing them .

Indigenous people who have lived in difficult terrains without much assistance from governments have done so with the wisdom received from their ancestors in blending with nature and preserving the ecology. Recognition of their rights to live undisturbed is a highlight of the series of agreements to protect a third of the planet for nature by 2030.

It is a pity that the dangers of pesticide use and other measurable inputs did not get due recognition. We have to rest content with the summit having shed light on how for too long humanity has glossed over the over-extraction and destruction of the natural world.

How to fund conservation efforts is always a sticking point in climate talks between old and more recent polluters. But, at least in destroying biodiversity, the whole world is guilty and equitable effort is called for in stopping further destruction of ecosystems, habitats and species.

The COP15 agreement is just a starting point. It may take decades of sustained efforts to show tangible results from an understanding of how fast forests and grasslands are being lost and oceans polluted nowadays.