Some countries walk out of CBD COP in finance fight between developing & developed countries

Divisions between developed and developing nations over who should pay to protect Earth’s ecosystems are threatening to derail a UN biodiversity summit after a group of developing countries walked out of discussions overnight.

In echoes of last month’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt – where countries agreed to create a new fund to compensate loss and damage from global heating in vulnerable nations – countries from the global south left Cop15 talks on Wednesday due to disagreements over finance.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/14/walkouts-and-tensions-as-row-over-finance-threatens-to-derail-cop15-talks

Canada signs on to global reforestation plan

Canada has pledged to join the Bonn Challenge, a global initiative aimed at bringing 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes under restoration by 2030.

The announcement was made Dec. 12 at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, which is convening partners around the world to call for greater collaboration toward addressing the dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. Conserving nature and halting rapid biodiversity loss is essential to combating climate change and building resilience to its impacts.

https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2022/12/canada-signs-global-forest-restoration-challenge

Colombia | Tinigua NP being decimated by illegal cattle ranching

Once covering an expanse of more than 2,140 square kilometers (826 square miles) of the Colombian Amazon Rainforest, Tinigua National Natural Park has lost 29% of its forests over the past 20 years. Much of this loss has occurred only since 2018, when the park lost nearly 6% of its tree cover in a single year.

Deforestation in Tinigua shows no sign of stopping, with 2022 marking the fifth consecutive year in which the park has topped the list of Colombian protected areas most severely affected by forest loss. Satellite data and imagery from Global Forest Watch show ever-growing clearings eating away at the increasingly fragmented rainforest, the bulk happening during the first half of the year.

https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/panic-sets-in-as-armed-groups-occupy-deforest-colombian-national-park/