December, 06 2022, 12:18pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
August Rick, Greenpeace East Asia, (august.rick@greenpeace.org)
Greenpeace International Press Desk, pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org
All Eyes on Montreal: COP15 Is the Make-Or-Break Moment for Global Biodiversity
Greenpeace calls for clear recognition of Indigenous Rights in an ambitious global biodiversity framework as COP15 - the COP for biodiversity - starts two weeks of negotiations to agree upon a global framework to shape the protection of nature over the next decade and into the future.
COP15 will only be successful if the final text of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework includes:
WASHINGTON
Greenpeace calls for clear recognition of Indigenous Rights in an ambitious global biodiversity framework as COP15 - the COP for biodiversity - starts two weeks of negotiations to agree upon a global framework to shape the protection of nature over the next decade and into the future.
COP15 will only be successful if the final text of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework includes:
- Explicit recognition for Indigenous Peoples and local communities' rights and central roles in protecting biodiversity globally, including prior and informed consent,
- An ambitious global target to protect at least 30% of land and 30% of seas by 2030,
- Clear tools and measures as well as equitable financing for the implementation of targets.
- Internationally, at least $100 billion USD should be provided annually by developed countries for developing countries. This international support should be primarily based on public sources and avoid double counting climate finance.
Detailed briefing on Greenpeace's COP15 demands.
Dinamam Tuxa, Executive Coordinator for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil said:
"It is impossible to talk about biodiversity conservation without mentioning Indigenous Lands. Globally, areas managed by Indigenous Peoples are among the most conserved, even though we, Indigenous Peoples, represent a small part of the population. However, we remain outside the decision-making process and without our rights to our territories. We hope that this COP15 will recognize our rights and that it will create more space for our official participation."
Greenpeace East Asia senior policy advisor Li Shuo said:
"It is unacceptable for this process to continue to pump out promises and never deliver. COP15 is a chance for reinvention. Negotiations over the next two weeks need to generate targets that will actually be implemented and supported. The Chinese Presidency and joint leadership from all Parties can deliver this through careful planning towards an ambitious roadmap."
Greenpeace Canada Executive Director Lagi Toribau said:
"COP15 is a chance to create a systematic shift in the global fight to protect biodiversity. Biodiversity is the network that supports all life, including humanity. And protecting biodiversity globally should first and foremost support the communities that are protecting nature, forests, and oceans at the frontlines. COP15 can deliver the tools to do that globally. On the ground, this can look different for different countries. In Canada, for example, we call for a Nature & Biodiversity Act centered around Indigenous Rights."
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
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President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers are reportedly considering plans to weaken—or abolish altogether—top bank regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday that members of Trump's transition team and the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have asked nominees under consideration to head the FDIC and OCC if the bank watchdogs could be eliminated and have their functions absorbed by the Treasury Department, which is set to be run by a billionaire hedge fund manager and crypto enthusiast.
"Bank executives are optimistic President-elect Donald Trump will ease a host of regulations on capital cushions and consumer protections, as well as scrutiny of consolidation in the industry," the Journal reported. "But FDIC deposit insurance is considered near sacred. Any move that threatened to undermine even the perception of deposit insurance could quickly ripple through banks and in a crisis might compound customer fears."
The Trump team's internal and fluid discussions about the fate of the key bank regulators broadly aligns with Project 2025's proposal to "merge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Reserve's non-monetary supervisory and regulatory functions."
The FDIC, which is primarily funded by bank insurance premiums, was established during the Great Depression to restore public trust in the nation's banking system, and the agency played a central role in navigating the 2023 bank failures that threatened a systemic crisis.
Observers warned that gutting the FDIC and OCC could catalyze another economic meltdown.
"The next recession starts here," tech journalist Jacob Silverman warned in response to the Journal's reporting.
Eric Rauchway, a historian of the New Deal, wrote that "even Milton Friedman appreciated the FDIC," underscoring the extreme nature of the incoming Trump administration's deregulatory ambitions.
Musk, the world's wealthiest man, is also pushing for the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency established in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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Asked about Thompson's alleged killer—26-year-old Luigi Mangione, whose reported manifesto railed against the nation's expensive healthcare system and low life expectancy—Sanders said: "You don't kill people. It's abhorrent. I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act. But what it did show online is that many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the healthcare that they desperately need."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system," he continued, noting the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year because they can't get to a doctor.
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
Khanna—a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, led in the House of Representatives by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—made the case that you can recognize those stories without accepting the assassination.
"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
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