The environment ministers of the G7 countries are meeting on May 5 and 6 in Metz. Combating inequality while protecting biodiversity and the climate is at the heart of the G7’s priorities, with France serving as this year’s chair.
The city of Metz (Moselle) will host the G7 Environment Summit on May 5 and 6. The ministers responsible for the environment and energy from the seven largest industrialized nations (the United States, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom) will gather there.
France holds the G7 presidency in 2019. The ministers will discuss in Metz the “”Combating inequality through biodiversity and climate protection.". This meeting “”will be a crucial moment for encouraging G7 countries to take concrete action to protect the planet and safeguard vulnerable populations. Indeed, these populations are the first to suffer from climate change and the loss of biodiversity, which exacerbate inequalities.", explains the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The European Union and the’The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is also involved in the G7’s work. Representatives from about ten other countries were invited by France to attend the meeting: Chile, Egypt, Fiji, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Niger. Some of these countries are directly affected by deforestation (Indonesia), desertification (Niger), or rising sea levels due to climate change (Fiji). Poland, which hosted the International Climate Conference (COP 24) in 2018, as well as Norway, were also invited.
Biodiversity at the Heart of the G7 Negotiations
Four priorities have been set at this G7 Environment Summit: combating inequality through an ecological and solidarity-based transition, and supporting scientific warnings and international action on biodiversity and climate change. The summit also aims to promote solutions “”concrete" for the climate and biodiversity and to fund biodiversity conservation. Policymakers are urged to respond to the alarmist message from the international scientists from IPBES, meeting in Paris through May 6 to discuss the growing loss of biodiversity. Scientists are warning of the onset of a sixth mass extinction of species, caused exclusively by human activities. France hopes for commitments from the countries represented “on the implementation of concrete biodiversity conservation policies, on their national territories“. On Monday, May 6, G7 partners and invited countries will be asked to sign a biodiversity charter. On the same day, IPBES experts will release their report on the global biodiversity assessment.
The’French ambition The goal, therefore, is to translate scientists“ alarming assessments into political action—and thereby achieve progress at the local level and in international negotiations. This meeting of environment ministers aims to prepare for the ”general” G7 summit of heads of state, scheduled to take place in Biarritz at the end of August. France will also host the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in June 2020. Then the International Convention on Biological Diversity—the COP15 – will be held in China in late 2020. The States Parties to this convention will be required to develop a new global framework for action on biodiversity for the post-2020 period. The G7 Environment Summit “”will also focus on laying the groundwork for securing funding to support biodiversity".
Coalitions of countries advocating for various actions
France also hopes to foster coalitions, led by several of the countries represented, to commit to biodiversity and climate action. According to the ministry, coalitions already exist to combat deforestation, to preserve great apes and coral reefs, and to address gender inequalities in the environmental sector. France will also continue the commitment it made in 2018, during the Canadian G7 presidency, to tackle plastic pollution in the oceans. And also to promote waste management and the social and solidarity economy. “Each country must be able to commit to what it considers most important,”,emphasizes the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which relies on voluntary efforts.
Implement the Paris Climate Agreement
France is calling for countries to reaffirm their commitment to implementing the Paris Climate Agreement in the final communiqué of the G7 Environment meeting. On the issue of climate change, however, it is very likely that a new final communiqué will be issued. excluding the United States. Since 2017, Donald Trump announced and officially requested that withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. The United States will not be able to formally withdraw from the Agreement before November 4, 2020. France also expects the communiqué to mention the countries that have committed to the biodiversity charter.
In https://www.actu-environnement.com/
