Summary and conclusions on COP16 Cali-Colombia 2024. Conference on Biodiversity

COP16 or the Sixteenth Conference of the Parties of the United Nations on Biological Diversity, took place between October 21 and November 1, 2024, in the city of Cali, Colombia. Its objective: “To promote sustainable development through a vision that involves ecosystems and people.”

General information on COP16 on biodiversity

Location: Cali, Colombia.

Duration: From October 21 to November 1, 2024.

Frequency : Every two years.

President: Susana Muhammad González.

Motto: Peace with nature.

Objective: “Promote sustainable development through a vision that involves ecosystems and people.”

Based on the Convention of UN Convention on Biological Diversity , introduced in 1992 with the aim of conserving biological diversity on the planet and promoting its sustainability.

In our COP16 Cali – Colombia 2024 Information Center you will find: What is the Rio 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity?, frequently asked questions about biodiversity , opinion articles on the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), climate change and the planetary climate crisis, as well as other information about COP16. that may be useful to you.

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COP16 was held in the city of Cali, Colombia, between October 21 and November 1, 2024, under the slogan: Peace with Nature. It is a call to reflection to improve the relationship between humans and the environment, a theoretical model that does not prioritize the extraction, overexploitation and contamination of nature.

The Conference of the Parties on Biodiversity is the most important forum for discussion and negotiation of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At it, countries discuss the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, as well as the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. The aim is to find solutions to critical problems facing the planet.

COP16 was the first conference following the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework , UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that took place at COP15, in December 2022, in Montreal, Canada. “This framework functions as a roadmap for the 196 countries party to the Convention to take action at the national level to meet its four objectives and 23 targets, in order to stop and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030”, among which the UN highlights:

  1. Conserve at least 30% of the world’s land, marine and coastal areas.
  2. Undertake restoration of at least 20% of each of degraded freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, with special attention to priority ecosystems.
  3. Halve the rate of introduction of other known or potential invasive species.
  4. Reduce by at least half the amount of nutrients lost to the environment and by at least two-thirds the amount of chemicals, particularly pesticides, that are harmful to biodiversity. Eliminate the dumping of plastic waste.

The COP16 negotiations focused on these three key elements:

  1. Operationalize the monitoring framework . This includes indicators for each of the 23 targets that will enable governments to report on progress.
  2. Mobilize financial resources for its successful implementation , particularly for “target 18” on the reform of environmentally harmful subsidies and “target 19,” which commits governments to mobilize $200 billion annually by 2030.
  3. Finalize the mechanism on resources genetic resources , a multilateral agreement on access and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of.

Information taken from World Economic Forum.

Conclusions on COP16. Conference on biodiversity

Greenpeace said : UN COP16 on biodiversity advances protection agenda but fails to fund nature. According to the Colombian government, in addition to the official delegations that took part in the discussions at the most important world summit on biodiversity, there were around one million visits to the so-called green zone, an area set aside for civil society participation. An estimated 40,000 people attended a varied agenda of academic activities.

France Press : COP16 ended without agreement on funding for plan to save nature. “COP16 ended this Saturday in the Colombian city of Cali, after intricate negotiations on funding for the roadmap to save nature by 2030, which did not lead to any agreement. What was achieved was the approval of a fund on benefits derived from genetic data on nature and the creation of a body to give a voice to indigenous peoples in the Convention on Biological Diversity.”

Other headlines

Forbes: COP 16’s Chaotic End: What It Means For The Future Of Biodiversity. “The contentious conference ran into overtime and ended with many issues unresolved”. By David Carlin. Contributor of Forbes. Nov 4, 2024.

EuroNews: ‘Nobody should be okay with this’: COP16 ends in confusion with no consensus on nature funding. “Hopes for halting the destruction of nature are running low after the dedicated UN biodiversity summit ended in disarray. Negotiations at COP16, the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, in Cali, Colombia collapsed in overtime on Saturday morning as many governments had to leave to catch flights.” Lottie Limb. 04/11/2024.

Le Monde: COP16 biodiversity ends without agreement on funding roadmap to rescue nature. “The 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was suspended by its president Susana Muhamad as negotiations ran almost 12 hours longer than planned. The exodus left the summit without a quorum for decision-making, but CBD spokesman David Ainsworth told Agence France-Presse (AFP) it will resume at a later date to consider outstanding issues”. Le Monde/AFP. Nov 2, 2024.

SGK-PKANET’s opinion : As long as the Parties that make up the COPs do not fully understand the importance of their decisions in the framework of these climate conferences, and no concrete positive results emerge from them, the world temperature will continue to rise, biological diversity, which is already reaching critical levels, will continue to decline and meteorological phenomena will be felt with increasing intensity. If we do not act now, it may be too late tomorrow because there will be no one to follow the roadmaps.

Sandor Alejandro Gerendas-Kiss
Editor of SGK-PLANET

For additional information, please visit the official COP16 website cop16colombia.com/es/en