CALI: The United Nations’ biggest nature conservation summit concluded in Colombia on Saturday without reaching an agreement on a financing roadmap to protect the planet’s biodiversity.
The 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) saw intense negotiations but was ultimately suspended by summit president Susana Muhamad, the Colombian Environment Minister, after talks extended nearly 12 hours beyond the planned schedule.
The summit, with around 23,000 delegates from across the globe, aimed to accelerate progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark agreement established in Canada two years ago.
This framework outlined 23 goals to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, including placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection, restoring 30 percent of degraded ecosystems, and eliminating pollution and harmful subsidies.
A key component of this framework is a target of $200 billion per year in funding, with $30 billion allocated for transfer from wealthy to developing nations. However, current funding falls short; the OECD reports that in 2022, the actual total was just $15 billion.
During the COP16 meeting in Cali, delegates were primarily divided between wealthier nations and developing countries, each advocating for different approaches to financing. A major point of contention was the proposal for a dedicated biodiversity fund.
Muhamad’s draft for such a fund was rejected by the European Union, Switzerland, and Japan, who opposed the idea of creating a new mechanism. Developing countries, meanwhile, argued that the existing Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) does not adequately represent their interests and imposes challenging access requirements.
Despite the financing deadlock, the summit saw some progress in other areas. Delegates approved the creation of a fund for communities that are the original custodians of species whose genetic material, when sequenced digitally, is often used in lucrative fields like pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. This fund will help ensure communities receive a share of the profits from products derived from such data.
Meanwhile, the summit also established a permanent body to represent Indigenous peoples under the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity. The announcement was met with cheers from Indigenous representatives, many of whom attended in traditional attire, celebrating the acknowledgment of their role in conserving biodiversity.
New research presented at the summit painted a grim picture of the state of global biodiversity, with more than a quarter of assessed plants and animals now considered at risk of extinction. Currently, only 17.6 percent of the world’s land and inland waters and 8.4 percent of marine and coastal areas are protected, far from the targets outlined in the GBF.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who attended the summit alongside five heads of state and several ministers, reminded delegates that humanity has already altered three-quarters of Earth’s land surface and two-thirds of its waters.
“The clock is ticking. The survival of our planet’s biodiversity — and our own survival — are on the line,” Guterres warned.
The conference was held under heavy security following threats from a Colombian guerrilla group operating near Cali, though no incidents were reported.
