The UN CBD COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia, has come to a bitter-sweet end, leaving the world with some new and very welcome achievements, whilst highlighting many unresolved, growing challenges.
The Colombian presidency, along with other ambitious parties, made great efforts to underscore the urgent need for increased funding for biodiversity planning and conservation, particularly needed by the Global South. The Global North must channel public and private funding away from damaging, and offsetting, towards net-positive solutions which are the only ones which will allow us meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) targets.
One significant positive step was the establishment of the “Cali Fund,” a benefit-sharing mechanism for digital sequence information (DSI). This fund aims to ensure that corporate profits derived from genetic resources (such as those in the pharmaceutical industry, amongst others) are shared with the regions of origin, being part of an attempt to do justice and support conservation efforts on the ground, recognising the stewards of nature. Voluntary, for now; the fund can be seen as merely a tiny step in the right direction.
Another milestone was the creation of a Subsidiary Body on the Full and Effective Participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This body will provide Indigenous communities with a formal negotiating platform to influence discussions, recognizing their critical role as stewards of nature and their position on the frontline facing the interconnected climate, nature, and social crises. An apt achievement of the “People’s COP”, and a small step towards historic justice.
Nevertheless, I believe COP16 showed the world how many unresolved issues we still need to deal with. Only 40 odd countries out of 196 submitted their national biodiversity plans on time, and biodiversity financing remains woefully insufficient. Just like “remakes” of classic films are all the rage in Hollywood, pandering to a nostalgia-driven market, at CBD we seem to be watching some sort of remake of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement: CBD implementation depends on progress on financing which is stuck. The massive elephant in the room hinders negotiations on other key issues, and the North-South divide is painfully evident, still. Parties dragged their feet on the proposal of a $200B fund for nature, postponing it to the end of the COP. Into the final hours, so many Party delegates left that the conference quorum was lost and had to be adjourned: postponed to an extraordinary interim COP in 2025.
Outside the plenaries yet inside the Blue Zone there was a very large presence of Business delegations, numerous market-based fora and discussions, and a lot of emphasis on about “credits”, “resources”, and “valuations”. This seemed to be disproportionate compared to the presence of actors and number of discussions of driven from Civil Society, Indigenous, and Academic & Research sectors. Private sector focus seems also still to be way too heavy on the “E” and the ‘wealth of opportunities in nature’ – did anyone else pause for thought upon hearing “the Amazon is open for business” ?! – whereas the “S” and “G” are still overlooked and understated. EcoCitizen made the point of reminding audiences and counterparts throughout this COP that “S” – Social – indicators are far from being trivialities.
Whereas in the Global North the focus here might be on gender pay gap and sick days, global south indicators are starkly different. In these regions, social indicators represent matters of life and death. This lack of attention from private actors from the Global North reflects a troubling disconnect and should serve as a wake up call to US and EU regulators. Companies must recognise that their supply chains involve real human lives, often under severe conditions. Issues such as child labour, forced labour, and unsafe working environments are prevalent, yet they receive insufficient attention compared to environmental concerns, which themselves are still nowhere near as important as they should be in boardrooms.
There can be no solution to the climate and nature crises without an integral human rights approach and guarantee of ethical practices in operations. We heard indigenous leaders and environmental justice defenders highlight the violence and displacement caused by both legal and illegal activities, particularly but not only in extractive industries. COP16 is a step, but far from what is needed for human societies to thrive alongside nature. The decision to promote synergies between biodiversity and climate policies is positive, but we need more proximity and harmony between the three Rio 1992 conventions (UNFCCC, UNCBD, UNCCD), as well as with other relevant global treaties such as the UN Plastics Treaty which will hopefully let us end this year on a high.
Every year it’s estimated that 10,000 species still disappear, weakening ecosystems and our human systems that rely on them, thereby also debilitating our resilience to climate change. The damaging effects on human societies from these intertwined natural crises are already evident: extreme weather events, harvest collapse, mass migration, conflicts over fertile land and water, growing severe economic inequality, and even strains on democratic systems around the world.
Outside of the venue Blue Zone, Colombia and Cali delivered an historic, society-wide, engaging Green Zone and national interest in the COP and biodiversity discussions in general. The bar has been set high, and future host countries will have a hard task to meet the standard. The Green Zone and the wider society in Colombia genuinely caught the spirit of the moment and took every opportunity to get involved in the public activities, discussions, and media spotlight to place pressure on delegates. The dynamism, pluralism, inclusiveness, and overall hopeful optimism that ran through Cali and beyond was truly palpable and to be commended.
COP30 in 2025 will be a major milestone at which we could see a significant step-up to comprehensive and integral solutions. But let’s remember, this is not just about UN conferences and goodwill. These are everyday serious problems, everyday opportunities, and actions we must all take everyday.
We either join forces together to face these urgent challenges and ensure that all we live within our planetary boundaries, or together we are destined to perish.
Salvatore Coppola-Finegan
Chairman
EcoCittadino
Cali, Colombia
2nd November 2024
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