CALI, Colombia — The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) was suspended in the morning of Nov. 2 but not before countries agreed on an expanded role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in saving biodiversity and a groundbreaking agreement on the operationalization of a new global mechanism to share benefits from digital genetic information.
The strong results, built on a spirit of compromise, and dialogue, demonstrate that multilateralism can still achieve results in a fractious time. After roughly 12 hours of meeting in the Plenary session, at roughly 9 am COP 16 lost quorum and was suspended before approval of a few last items.
It will resume at a later date and venue to complete the agenda.
The results at COP 16 are important strides towards achievement of the 23 targets for 2030 laid out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), adopted at the previous meeting of the Convention’s 196 Parties in Montreal in 2022.
With billions of people depending on nature’s contributions, threats to biodiversity intensifying, and financial resources in short supply, the stakes at COP 16 were high.
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“Over the last weeks, we have seen the largest, whole-of-society mobilization for biodiversity unfold in Cali, triggering interest from around the globe. We have seen Indigenous Peoples and local communities, civil society, businesses and financial institutions, sub-national governments, cities and local authorities, women and youth present remarkable initiatives and action.
And through it all, this COP delivered a seminal message: the time has come to make peace with nature.
“From Cali, this UN Biodiversity Conference sent a powerful call to action. It has never been clearer that the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Agreement in a synergistic fashion will make peace with nature within reach.”
Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity
“We arrived in Cali with a heavy agenda of work, and thanks to the determination of countries and the energy from this ‘People’s COP’, we’ve made good progress. COP16 has delivered important commitments on the interconnections on nature and climate, biodiversity and health and Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs). The new agreement on Article 8J is a critical step forward and commits us to embed the knowledge and role of Indigenous Peoples and local custodians across our work to deliver the Global Biodiversity Framework. Another big win is the new mechanism and fund for fair and equitable benefit-sharing from Digital Sequencing Information of genetic resources which will ensure that those who profit from biodiversity give back to nature, countries and communities.
Of course, we would have liked to achieve more on resource mobilization and advances on the monitoring framework, but we will not slow down the pace of work.
2030 is rapidly approaching and action cannot wait.”
Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
Source and useful resources: https://www.cbd.int/article/agreement-reached-cop-16