DNCi2023: Protecting biodiversity | What can Saxony do?

Halting the extinction of species and the destruction of habitats is an urgent political and social task. At the World Biodiversity Summit in Montreal (CBD-COP 15) in December 2022, almost 200 participating states agreed on a global agreement for the protection and development of nature, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Among other things, it contains the demands to put 30 percent of the world's land and marine area under protection by 2030 and also to restore 30 percent of damaged ecosystems through renaturation. But how can actors in Saxony contribute to supporting these demands of the Kunming-Montreal obligations in the best possible way? This was the central question of DNCi2023, on 23 June at the IOER.

The event opened with words of welcome from the new Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Prof. Dr. Tshilidzi Marwala, who was a guest in Dresden.

Under the heading "Reality Check at the Regional Level: Implications of the CBD-COP 15 for Saxony”, around fifty experts from science, business and agriculture, political institutions and civil society at the regional level discussed this. The aim of the event was to develop recommendations for a regional action plan with effective implementation measures. The DNCi2023 was carried out in cooperation with the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture (SMEKUL). In the evening, the participants were invited to a reception with Saxony's Minister for the Environment, Wolfram Günther, at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum.

The participants discussed various aspects relating to the protection, preservation and restoration of biodiversity. Among other things, they discussed the time horizon for the implementation of initial measures and the urgency of taking action quickly. Questions about how the proportion of protected areas could be increased quickly and purposefully were also discussed. Those involved agreed that simply adding up existing protected areas was not enough and that, for example, the additional establishment of a legally binding green infrastructure concept would make sense. Further discussions revolved around the reduction of pesticides and the prerequisites that are necessary in order to be able to draw up and implement a regional action plan. Financial requirements, which arise with the aim of better protecting nature, were also the object of intensive discussions. It is also important to continue to engage in dialogue and transdisciplinary exchange on biodiversity protection in the future.

The results of the DNCi2023 are now being summarised, prepared in writing and published shortly.

Background
The DNCi is the regional format for the international Dresden Nexus Conference (DNC). The DNC regularly looks at the resource nexus, i.e. the integrated management of water, soil, waste, energy and other environmental resources. While the conference series is aimed at a global audience from science and practice, the workshop format of the DNCi addresses regional actors from science, politics and practice in order to accelerate innovation processes in selected fields of action. Both formats are jointly organised by the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), the United Nations University Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES) and the Technische Universität Dresden, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Scientific contact at the IOER
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Wende, e-mail: W.Wendeioer@ioer.de