This is an edited excerpt from an article published by the International Land Conservation Network.

Leaders and conservationists from more than 190 countries came together in Montreal from December 7 to 19 to address urgent threats to biodiversity at the COP15 global conference. A team from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy participated in the historic event, promoting the role that private and civic land conservation can play in the international effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by the end of the decade.

Formally known as the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, COP15 resulted in a historic agreement, the Kunming̵–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which serves as a roadmap toward a nature-positive future in which species and ecosystems thrive. COP15 has been compared in significance to its better-known counterpart, COP21, the 2015 UN climate conference where nearly 200 parties pledged to take action to mitigate climate change by signing the Paris Agreement.

A pillar of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is the formalization of the 30×30 goal, an effort to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, and inland waters by 2030. This goal prioritizes areas based on the value of their biodiversity and aims to create ecologically representative, well-connected, and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. It also recognizes Indigenous and traditional territories and emphasizes respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The Kunming–Montreal framework also addresses issues including financial support for developing countries, harmful subsidies, food waste, and corporate transparency.

Four staff members from the Lincoln Institute joined more than 18,000 participants from 196 countries at COP15: Jim Levitt, director of the International Land Conservation Network (ILCN); Chandni Navalkha, ILCN associate director of sustainably managed land and water resources; Zhi Liu, director of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy (PLC); and Shenmin Liu, ILCN regional representative for Asia.

On the first day of the conference, ILCN and PLC co-hosted a daylong event with the Global Environmental Institute, Africa Wildlife Foundation, and other non-governmental organizations. The event, which centered on strengthening non-state actors’ efforts to support multi-goal and multi-benefit biodiversity conservation and sustainable development initiatives, attracted more than 100 participants from civil society, academia, the business sector, youth groups, and local communities. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, spoke about the critical role of civil society organizations in implementing the new framework. Levitt gave a keynote presentation on leveraging international and cross-sectoral expertise to help create an effective, trusted, and connected global network for private and civic land conservation. He described successful examples of collaborative civic conservation including the FONAG water fund in Quito, Ecuador, and Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area in Nunavut, Canada.

At a separate event, Shenmin Liu spoke about the importance of engaging youth in the conservation movement and the power young people hold as the future stewards of the planet. The ILCN and the Nature Conservancy of Canada also hosted a gathering for ILCN network members attending COP15, with participants hailing from Canada, China, Australia, Spain, South Africa, Kenya, Liberia, and other countries.

In addition to yielding a landmark agreement among the world’s nations to protect and restore biodiversity, COP15 served as a springboard for ongoing work. For example, delegates sowed the seeds for the establishment of a multilateral fund to enable equitable benefit sharing between providers and users of emerging agricultural technology. Details of the fund are set to be finalized at COP16 in Turkey in 2024, where signatories of the Kunming-Montreal Declaration will assess progress on their efforts to address the current biodiversity crisis and ensure a sustainable future for the planet.

Shenmin Liu is a research analyst with the Lincoln Institute and ILCN representative for Asia.

Image: Lincoln Institute staff and global partners at COP15 in December 2022. Credit: Shenmin Liu.

This fall marked the 15th anniversary of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy (PLC). Established in 2007, the center has become a leading authority on land policy issues in China, including the property tax, municipal finance, land and housing policies, and land conservation. To celebrate this milestone, the PLC held an event on November 4 that included commemorative remarks, a formal recommitment to the partnership between the two institutions, and several academic presentations on urban development and climate change. 

“The Lincoln Institute works globally on topics largely relating to land policy, and the joint center is an exceptional platform for our China program,” said Katie Lincoln, chief investment officer and board chair of the Lincoln Institute, who delivered congratulatory remarks by video. “During the past 15 years, the center has held numerous conferences, undertaken research and demonstration projects, shared in scholarly exchanges, and happily gained recognition both in and out of China.” 

In addition to Lincoln, several current and former leaders from the two institutions joined the celebration virtually or in person, including Jin Zhang, vice president of Peking University; Jianhua Lin, former president of Peking University; Yansong Li, former vice president of Peking University; George W. McCarthy, president of the Lincoln Institute; Gregory Ingram, former president of the Lincoln Institute; and Joyce Man, former director of the PLC. 

“We are now at a difficult time of Sino-U.S. relations,” said former PKU President Lin. “But I believe that the mutual trust between our two institutions and the confidence about the value of what we do will continue to be a foundation for us to cooperate and move forward.” 

During the event, Zhang and McCarthy signed an agreement for continued collaboration between the two organizations. “In the next few years, the PLC will add a new focus on land use and climate change, in support of China’s ambitious goal of achieving net-zero carbon goals by 2060,” noted McCarthy. “The PLC also will help the Lincoln Institute in its global efforts to address the climate crisis. The unique cooperation between the Lincoln Institute and PKU over the last 15 years has been fruitful for China, the United States, and the world in [finding land-based solutions to] economic, social, and environmental challenges. We are excited to embark on another five-year journey together.” 

The center, which conducts research, training, policy analysis, academic exchanges, advisory services, and demonstration projects throughout China, also invited several scholars, fellowship recipients, and others who have been involved with its work over the years to share reflections.  

“I worked with PLC for more than ten years, from winning the Peking University–Lincoln Center scholarship, to guiding students to participate in the center’s fund application, to becoming a partner of the center’s work and research,” said De Tong, associate professor at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. “Scholars at the center have become my inspiring mentors and friends, and colleagues at the center have also become comrades-in-arms at work and friends in life.” 

The center has launched an essay contest open to those who have been involved with the PLC over the years, from scholarship recipients to business collaborators to conference participants. Five winning essays, selected in January, will receive a small monetary prize; a copy of the Lincoln Institute book Infrastructure Economics and Policy: International Perspectives, coedited by José A. Gómez-Ibáñez and Zhi Liu, who leads the PLC as director of the Lincoln Institute’s China program; a copy of Advanced Economic Geography by Canfei He, dean of the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at PKU and associate director of the PLC; and publication on the PLC website. 

The second half of the day’s events was structured as an online forum on climate change and urbanization in the context of China’s dual-carbon goal, which seeks to reach peak carbon by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Leading policy makers and scholars from China, Hong Kong, and the United States shared their latest thoughts and studies on topics including green building, urban equity, and urban-rural integration, drawing an audience of more than 600 researchers, planners, and others.  

“The dual-carbon goal is a major challenge for China, but also presents new opportunities for China’s continuing urbanization,” said PLC Director Liu. “Urbanization and carbon net-zero has been a hot topic in China’s policy debates, which have been getting more substantive and concrete over the last two years. I found myself learning a lot from these presentations, which deepened my understanding about the challenges and opportunities that the goal of carbon net-zero will bring to our urbanization for the next few decades.” 

Forum topics and presenters included: 

• the evolution and future of green building, by Dr. Baoxing Qiu, former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development; 
• carbon reduction models for commercial real estate, by Professor Siqi Zheng of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning of MIT; 
• equity and governance under China’s dual-carbon goal, by Professor Shenjing He from the Department of Urban Planning and Design of the University of Hong Kong; 
• carbon reduction through urban agglomeration, by Professor Ming Lu from Antai School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; and  
• urban-rural integration and rural revitalization, by Professor Shouying Liu from the School of Economics of Renmin University. 

Visit the “Our Work” section of our website to learn more about the PLC and to find information about how to connect with the center on WeChat. 

Lead image: Lincoln Institute President and CEO George W. McCarthy and Peking University Vice President Jin Zhang celebrate the renewal of the collaborative agreement that established the Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy. Credit: Courtesy of PKU.

Ebonie Alexander, executive director of the Black Family Land Trust, has been named the 2022–2023 Kingsbury Browne Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the recipient of the Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award from the Land Trust Alliance. Working at the intersection of equity and conservation, Alexander is committed to promoting and ensuring rightful ownership and stewardship of inherited family land for African American landowners and other historically underserved populations in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and other states. 

“Ebonie is a leader in a space where she had to be a true pioneer and innovator,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of the Land Trust Alliance. “Those qualities have allowed her to be the driving force behind innovative programs and state policy changes in support of landowners who have historically been overlooked. She has moved land conservation beyond its traditional boundaries. And with this award and fellowship, Ebonie will continue to inspire us.” 

Alexander received the award at Rally 2022: The National Land Conservation Conference, sponsored by the Land Trust Alliance. The Kingsbury Browne award and fellowship, given annually since 2006, honor people who have enriched the conservation community with their outstanding leadership, innovation, and creativity in land conservation. They are named for a Boston tax lawyer and conservationist who served as a Lincoln Institute fellow in 1980 and inspired the founding of the Land Trust Alliance in 1982.  

At the Black Family Land Trust, which is based in Durham, North Carolina, Alexander designed the Wealth Retention and Asset Protection (WRAP) program and African American Land Ethic, two initiatives that have helped landowners retain family ownership and control of more than $12.5 million of their land assets and secured more than $500,000 of federal funding to support farmland conservation.  

During her year as a Kingsbury Browne fellow, Alexander will engage in research, writing, and mentoring, and facilitate a project that builds upon and shares her experience with the broader community. “Ebonie Alexander is a remarkable and passionate leader in the vanguard of efforts to protect open space, working farms, and diverse cultural heritage for generations to come,” said Jim Levitt, director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute. “We are very excited to get to know her, to work with her, and to share her insights with land trust colleagues from coastal Virginia to the Pacific highlands, and beyond.” 

Image: Ebonie Alexander speaks with a landowner as part of her work with the Black Family Land Trust. Credit: DJ Glisson II, Firefly Imageworks.

The Lincoln Institute’s 2022 Journalists Forum brought together 30 reporters and editors on the climate beat for two days of conversation about the role of land in the climate crisis, highlighting the need for new ideas, innovations, and policies to help head off the worst impacts of global warming. 

Land and land policy thread through just about every aspect of the crisis, whether deforestation, land conservation for carbon sequestration, the interplay of land, water, and agriculture, or the fact that usable land is disappearing, raising the important question of where millions of displaced people will go, now and in the future. 

Meanwhile, powerful private market actors are at work, in many cases swooping in and buying land that will be prime and prized as flooding, wildfire, mudslides, and sea-level rise make other locations unlivable—a classic case of real estate speculation. 

“We need to elevate . . .  the understanding of the important role that land plays and will play in our ability to address this existential crisis. And if we get it wrong, we’’re going to leave a planet that’s very, very different for whomever is left to exist on it,” said George W. McCarthy, president of the Lincoln Institute, in this collection of highlights from the forum for the Land Matters podcast. 
 
“And the big question is, are we prepared to? And can we navigate between the really, really powerful claims, private claims over dominion over land in exchange for the collective needs to use land differently to get to better global outcomes?” McCarthy asked. “Everything hangs in the balance.” 
 
The journalists considered the intense competition for land, with the siting of solar and wind facilities, transmission pipelines, and other needs in the transition to net-zero emissions; emerging strategies in agriculture and the management of dwindling water resources; and current practices in land conservation, which make it possible for natural areas to continue to soak up carbon. 
 
They also heard about how land can be used to pay for climate action, through land value capture—the harnessing of a portion of increases in private land values triggered by government investments in infrastructure—and the need for more coherent climate migration policies that take into account the vulnerable populations being forced to move from their homes. 
 
The Journalists Forum also featured some practical tools to help cover the story of the century, led by Jeff Allenby of the Center for Geospatial Solutions and Peter Colohan from the Internet of Water initiative, both new Lincoln Institute programs. Advances in technology have enabled a real-time monitoring of land use changes and water flows, which serves as a critical foundation for planners and policymakers — and journalists for telling the story of this turbulent time. 
 
The convening also included a discussion of the business of climate journalism itself, led by Nancy Gibbs, director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School; Andrew McCormick from the collaborative Covering Climate Now, Amrita Gupta from the Earth Journalism Network, and Trish Wilson, who established the first climate team dedicated to coverage of global warming at the Washington Post. 

You can listen to the show and subscribe to Land Matters on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Further Reading

How to Fend Off Land Speculation (Land Lines)

Demands on the Land: To Secure a Livable Future, We Must Steward Land Wisely  (Land Lines) 

Return on Investment: Research Links Climate Action with Land and Property Value Increases (Land Lines) 

Uprooted: As the Climate Crisis Forces U.S. Residents to Relocate, a New Conversation Emerges (Land Lines) 

The Colorado River is in crisis, and it’s getting worse every day (The Washington Post) 

How Can We Change Land Use at a Time of Climate Crisis and Competition?  (RedAcción)   

Deforestation Remains High, Despite International Pledges (New York Times)

Locals Worry Wind and Solar Will Gobble Up Forests and Farms (Stateline) 

Anthony Flint is a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, host of the Land Matters podcast, and a contributing editor of Land Lines.