50 Countries Make A Joint Plan To Protect 30% Of The Earth By 2030

With a mission to protect the planet’s biodiversity and ecosystems, a group of more than 50 countries joined the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People and pledged to protect 30 percent of Earth’s land and oceans by 2030.

Treehugger reports that HAC started in 2019 when a small group of countries including Costa Rica and France decided to do something to prevent biodiversity loss and the climate crisis.

“Our future depends on preventing the collapse of the natural systems that provide our food, clean water, clean air, and stable climate,” Rita El Zaghloul, HAC coordinator at the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, told Treehugger in an email. “In order to preserve these crucial services for our sustainable economies, we must protect enough of the natural world to sustain them.”

Currently, HAC is chaired by Costa Rica, France, and the UK, but has the support of more than 50 countries, including Canada, Chile, Japan, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

These countries together represent 30% of the world’s land-based biodiversity and more than 30 percent of ocean carbon sinks.

HAC leaders hope that the “30x30” goal will be widely adopted at the upcoming meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China.

We, on the other hand, hope that world leaders will meet targets they agree upon.