The negotiators leave Cali (Colombia) with a taste of unfinished business. The COP16 biodiversity ended abruptly on Saturday, November 2, with a suspension of negotiations. The Colombian president of the summit, Susana Muhamad, had to note that the required number of participants was no longer reached, after an extension of one night and the departure of certain delegations.
For two weeks, 196 countries tried to agree on how to meet, by 2030, the objectives set at the end of the previous edition, in the Kunming-Montreal agreement. “Two years ago we adopted a new international agreement that sets global targets to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity on a global scale. (…) This [COP16] est a bit of that of implementation”explained Juliette Landry, research manager at the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (Iddri), on franceinfo.
If certain issues remained mired in rivalries between rich countries and developing countries, several subjects have moved forward. Franceinfo summarizes the successes and failures of Cali.
The global biodiversity fund increased to $400 million…
At mid-COP on Tuesday, eight governments announced pledges bringing to $400 million (€369 million) the endowment of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), created in 2022 to support the effort of developing countries.
France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the Canadian province of Quebec have committed an amount equivalent to 150 million euros, including “a contribution from France of 5 million euros”specifies the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. “The GBFF now has 12 contributors”specified the GEF organization, which oversees it.
…but an impasse in negotiations on a new fund
The millions announced at COP16, however, are only a first step towards the objective of reaching $200 billion in annual aid for biodiversity by 2030. To achieve this, developing countries demanded the creation of a new fund, autonomous from the GEF and under UN governance, to replace the current one, which they consider unsuitable and inequitable. What developed countries refused, for reasons of cost and efficiency.
COP16 ultimately concluded without resolving this debate. The suspension of the final plenary session on Saturday interrupted the debates between Brazil, which supported the Colombian proposal to create this fund, and the European Union, Japan and Canada, which were firmly opposed to it.
“We leave Cali with a strong feeling of being unfinished, of being unfinished, and of still having a lot of work to do”commented Sébastien Treyer, director of Iddri, who notes however that the COPs cannot always provide an agreement “on all subjects”. It’s a “big failure for the Colombian presidency”believes Arnaud Schwartz, vice-president of France Nature Environnement.
Sharing the benefits from nature’s “genetic data”
COP16 decided on Saturday the creation of a “Cali Fund” which must be supplemented by companies making profits thanks to digitized genetic data of plants or animals from developing countries.
Thus, the synthetic taste of aromatic vanilla, widely used by the food industry for its own benefit, is derived from the genetic data of a plant once known only to an indigenous Mexican tribe. THE “pillage” wealth of developing countries by companies from rich countries “is the problem we’re all trying to solve here”declared the representative of Brazil in plenary.
The objective of this fund is to share these profits, made mainly by cosmetic and pharmaceutical groups, with these same developing countries. They hope to get up to a few billion dollars from it, intended to finance their nature protection commitments. But the actual amount that will be raised, mainly through voluntary contributions, still remains uncertain.
The creation of a body representing indigenous peoples
COP16 also succeeded in leading to better recognition of indigenous peoples in their role as guardians of nature. Countries have adopted the creation of a permanent group intended to ensure the representation of indigenous peoples and local communities within the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
“This is an unprecedented moment in the history of multilateral environmental agreements,” rejoiced Camila Romero, a representative of the Quechua peoples of Chile. The 196 member countries of the Convention “recognized the continuing need for our full and effective participation, our knowledge and innovations, our technology and our traditional practices”she added.
On October 26, a “G9 of the indigenous Amazon” was also launched in Cali by people from the nine states that share the largest forest in the world, including France and Colombia. This organization must allow them to have “a unified voice to influence global decisions”. Indigenous peoples are “the guardians of nature”, “on the front line of the biodiversity crisis” and their inclusion can “generate a more equitable dialogue” on the subject, declared Susana Muhamad, the president of the summit.
A failure to enhance efforts to protect ecosystems…
In 2022, when the Kunming-Montreal agreement was adopted, countries committed to placing 30% of land and seas in protected areas by 2030, or to halving the risks. pesticides. The mission of COP16 was to enhance the timid global efforts to implement these major objectives. But the discussions were unsuccessful. At COP17, which will take place in Armenia in 2026, countries will therefore have to take stock of their efforts, without having previously agreed on rules and ambitious monitoring indicators.
…and alarming figures
On Monday, the United Nations Environment Program and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned of the delay in one of the key objectives of the Kunming-Montreal agreement. While 30% of the planet must be subject to protection and conservation measures by 2030, only 17.6% of land and inland waters and 8.4% of oceans and coastal areas are today today in protected areas, according to the Protected Planet report.
“There remains an area on land the size of Brazil and Australia combined, and at sea, an area larger than the Indian Ocean, to be designated by 2030 to meet the global protection goal.”
United Nations Environment Programin a press release
And the destruction of nature, through deforestation, overexploitation or climate change, continues: one in three tree species is threatened with extinction, according to the update of the IUCN red list. “As defining components of many ecosystems, trees are fundamental to life on Earth through their role in carbon, water and nutrient cycles, soil formation and climate regulation”recalled the IUCN in an unprecedented Global Tree Assessment.
A roadmap for measuring the effectiveness of “biodiversity credits”
To finance the protection of nature, “biodiversity credit” markets have been created, but the fear of abuses remains. “In terms of biodiversity, we cannot compensate for a loss in place A by restoring an ecosystem in place B, on the other side of the planet. That does not work ecologically”warns Sébastien Treyer, director of Iddri. Since Cali, he therefore called for a market “credible, honest and serious”.
For this, an ethical roadmap was published during COP16 by a panel of international experts. This Framework for High Integrity Biodiversity Credit Markets is a roadmap to help governments build markets that truly benefit nature. He therefore proposes defining “biodiversity credit” as “a certificate which represents a measurable and proven unit of positive result for biodiversity”and that this result must be lasting.
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