Digital conference on environment conservation organised for students

The Model Conference of Parties - I (MCOP-I), the first ever digital conference on nature conservation for students was held online. It was held to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity 2020 and 2020 as a Super Year for nature and biodiversity.

It was hosted by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in association with its partners- MoEF and CC, National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), UNDP, UNEP, IUCN-CEC and outreach partner, CEE on  Saturday and Sunday. 

The conference was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and attended by several other dignitaries and organizations working in the sector. The conference aimed to put the power of decision making in the hands of children and youth, those whose futures will be directly impacted by environmental crisis and allow them an opportunity to propose solutions addressing the issues being faced in the country today.  Prior to the main event, the young conservationists participated in preparatory sessions for three days, where they learned about the Convention on Biological Diversity’s governance body and functioning of the Conference of Parties (COP).

Three new goals were proposed for the party of student delegates to lay the roadmap for bending the curve of nature loss by 2030. Goal A was No loss of freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems by 2030.

Goal B was Halve the footprint of production and consumption by 2030 and Goal C was Healthy natural ecosystems to provide benefits to all people.The student delegates engaged in several discussions around the key environmental concerns at state and national level and identified priority areas that needed immediate attention. An emphasis was put on teaching the students how to develop SMART targets.

While working together, the delegates concluded that it had to be a collective endeavor at the national level that would help them achieve these goals in the most efficient way for all. This is the essence of the MCOP-I and what these young environmentalists depicted so beautifully with their statements and commitments.

On the final day of the conference, the contributions and the commitments made by the young student delegates were compiled in structured document listing the different environmental goals that India as a nation must hope to achieve in the coming decade and thus was signed the Delhi Declaration 2020.