France Is Trying to Stop a ‘Climate Bomb’ With Gabon Trip
France’s ecological transition minister says determination, urgency and private finance will be needed to protect rainforests like those in Central Africa, site of an upcoming biodiversity summit.
At the COP15 conference in Montreal last December, more than 190 countries agreed to preserve 30% of land and sea by 2030 and find at least $200 billion per year for biodiversity conservation. But what happens next?
France’s government is one of many now figuring out how to implement the COP15 agreement through national law. At a private finance and biodiversity summit organized by the British government this month, Bloomberg Green met with the country's minister for ecological transition, Christophe Béchu, to talk about everything that has to be ironed out from here. That includes how much funding will be needed to protect some of Earth’s most valuable and vulnerable ecosystems, as well how to administer that funding and by when.
In addition to biodiversity funding, Béchu discussed French President Emmanuel Macron’s upcoming trip to Libreville, Gabon, for a summit on biodiversity on March 1 and 2. Critics have questioned the timing of Macron’s trip — ahead of Gabonese elections later this year — saying it may suggest tacit support for President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family have ruled the country for more than five decades. Béchu dismissed these concerns, saying the summit’s main focus on protecting the world’s tropical rainforests is too important to ignore. “If we don't protect this specific area, it will be just impossible to respect the Paris Agreement or to stay at a reasonable degree of global warming,” he said.