By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 1, 2022 – The UN Convention on Biodiversity, known as COP 15 is coming up on December 7th and the Turks and Caicos will be sending a delegation.  Though both are  environmental conferences, COP 15 is not to be confused with COP 27.  COP 27 or the UN Climate Change Conference  which deals with emissions and how to stop them from increasing is arguably, the most famous environmental conferences in the world.

But COP 27 isn’t the only environmental conference, it’s not even the only Conference of the Parties.  A COP is the supreme governing body of any international convention  including the WHO, the UN etc. and there are many other UN conferences that cause a COP to be held including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; the Nations Convention against Corruption and coming up this December, the incredibly important COP 15.

The COP 15 website explains that the conference has three objectives: the conservation of biodiversity; the sustainable use of its components and the fair sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.

Unfortunately, critically underfunded COP 15 has failed to reach its biodiversity protection targets consistently even as a 2019 UN report indicated that natural habitats are declining in rates “unprecedented in human history,” speeding up species extinction rapidly.

“The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide,” it said.

It rings true locally too; the Turks and Caicos is struggling to keep its native iguanas and coral reefs safe from both climate change, human and animal interference making this conclave – COP 15 – especially important for the British Overseas Territory.